Why cant i get my Scion Tc out of park?

So basically the story is i was driving to drop off a friend at their house. I slowed and braked to a stop. The minute i stopped, my stereo shut off. Power isnt going to it anymore, so im figuring its the fuse, which with my luck is probably right behind the stereo. But thats not the real problem, so ill continue with the story. So my friend gets out of the car and so do i. I throw it in park no problem, and get out to let my friend drive. He puts in drive no problem and we go to his moms house. We're there for a few hours, then we get back in the car, i start it, push the brake, and cant get it out of park. It feels like its stuck, or somethings jammed in it, or the pins broke. My friend got under the hood and pulled something and while he was pulling whatever he was pulling my other friend forced the stick over to neutral. it works, but is inconvenient, and i would like to know whats wrong and what to do about it.