Emergency hand brake stuck

I have a 1990 Toyota pickup. I’ve been told to always put the brake on when I park. The brake is a hand lever under the dash that I pull out and then to release, I push a button, pull a little and then push. Yesterday I got into the truck and went to release the brake and it was stuck. I had my foot on the brake, and it was in 1st which isn’t out of the norm for how I start the truck. I did notice that the handle seemed loose.
I eventually got it back in after starting the truck again and putting it into first and trying to pull forward with the brake on.
I’m concerned that if I use it again it will stick again and not go back in!
What has happened!?!?
Please help!

There should be a cable underneath the truck that runs from the lever to the rear brakes. Its probably all rusted up so get underneath and clean and lube it.

You should have it inspected. It probably only needs a little lubrication, but the problem may be something binding inside the drum.

I had a Toyota pu.
I cleaned, lubed, replaced parts, prayed, sprinkled pixie dust, cussed, other colorful metaphors that did not involve cussing, kicked the dog, etc. and no matter what, the park brake on those Toyota pu’s stuck.

This happened on my early 70’s Ford truck last year. I had to crawl under there, under the dashboard, with a flashlight. Banged my head, ouch! The mechanism – on this truck you push it with your foot to set, pull on a handle to release – is adjacent to the left side of the passenger compartment, sort of near where you left foot goes, so a little hard to see. So I got out a couple mirrors. Once I got the mirrors and flashlight aligned so I could see what I was looking for, discovered a general coating rust on the parts that operated the parking brake cable was the cause. I squirted some wd-40 on those parts what looked like might be sticking, and after a few minutes of tinkering, fixed it up straight away. Afterward I wondered why I didn’t do this before, as for years it been balky. Now it works smooth, like new. Wonders what a little wd 40 will do.

I agree with @GeorgeSanJose about the process, but not about WD40. That’s a water displacer made with fish oil, and it has very little endurance. Next time, which might be soon, use either a light oil like 3-in-1 or even some leftover 10-40 in a pump can.