Extract the_time() as string

Hey all,

Basically I’m trying to get a string attached to the_time('F j, Y').

What’s going wrong?

My code is this (for example):

<?php $my_post_date = the_time('F j, Y') ?>

BUT on ANY mention of the function the_time(), it will ECHO what I’ve written!

This means that the above actually APPEARS on the page saying

October 9, 2011

despite me just trying to declare it as part of the $my_post_date string.

So how do I make a string that has the posts’ date? Any ideas?