Mesh animating with other objects

Hi,

I've finally finished my inventory system for all my items, and the next step is to have an animation play when picking up the item.

I'm not sure how to efficiently go about the process of doing so (I can model and animate)

Ideally, I just want hands (that come out of nowhere) to pick up an object (already existing) , and then animate the hands moving it off screen. (like a lot of games like the last of us, bioshock ect.. )

I understand this could be quite a lengthy discussion, so I'll be happy for links to places that discuss it, or similar tutorials etc..

I just want a good system to do this, so I can program it with a function in the end so it works with all objects.
But I just don't know how to get say - my blender animation to mix in the unity world with an object...


Thanks in advance