Something to prop fuel door lever

Jam a screwdriver under the lever. Once you get the fuel door opened put more tension on the hinge's spring for it to "pop" open when the lever is puller. Or if the hinge spring is MIA a replacement can be had from Toyota or Dorman, this spring often fails on Toyotas.

 

Take it apart and see why it won't work and replace what's broken with parts from the junkyard....

 

Problem divides into two subproblems:

1. Get the filler door open so you can buy fuel.

When mine got like that, I would just get out of the car, walk around to the filler door (had a Gen 1, so it was all the way the other side of the car from the driver's door), take a plastic credit card or library card out of my wallet, stick it in to the gap around the filler door, walk back around to the release lever, pull, listen for the "sproing plop", walk back to the fuel door, pick up the card off the ground, and buy the fuel.

2. Fix the stickiness so you don't have to do that anymore.

It's easy to overcomplicate this. My first attempt was to look up the part number of the little spring, order a new one, wait for it to arrive, wiggle out the old spring, install the new one, and find I still had the same old issue.

My second attempt was to rummage in the basement for a spray can called "Tef-lube" that I bought in some bike shop like 30 years ago, and give a couple shots through its little snorkel into both fuel door hinges. Boom, done, never had that issue again.