I doubt they'll survive the ordeal. Better off to give them some ripe fruit and let them grow their own.

Papaya have especially sensitive roots.
They also have a very long shallow root system, to dig up a large plant i think would be impossible without killing it.

They do grow fast though, some varieties will go from seed to fruit in 10-12 months.

You are in zone 9B ?
I ask cos i am as well, and i lost all of mine in the freeze
Where are you, if you dont mind me asking ?

Thank you for your relies, i guess I'll go a head and grow some from seeds for friends. Greenman62 i live in the deep south, 6 hours from Houston. we were lucky this year because we didnt get any freeze, we had a few nights at 33 and thats was it! Our smaller papaya plants like the ones in the photo lost most of their leaves and the bigger ones wasn't affected too much. The fruits just stopped growing during the colder months :)

Wow,
you are lucky.
I am in New Orleans, and we had several 25 degree nights. 2-3 in a row which absolutely killed mine.
the tops just turned to mush.
i thought the roots were OK, but a week after the freeze it rained fror several days straight, then we had another freeze at 25F. roots seem to be gone as well now.

i have 3-4 that are 2ft or so in a greenhouse and a bunch of seeds on a heating mat :)
good thing they grow fast

such a shame you lost that beautiful plant, its so tall! how old was it? Sounds like you will be having a lot of papaya plants this year :)