I cannot explain this behavior, and it seems like a bug. When I try to click on the Rectangle tool at the top panel in the Adobe After Effects, there is no dropdown area with a list of other tools (Ellipse, Polygon, Star).
To see the dropdown, we need to click on the Rectangle icon and hold. Only after that dropdown appears. Also, we have a workaround: just press Alt and left-click on the Rectangle tool icon. Then tool should be changed one by one.