From Hello Kitty to One Piece, Every Major McDonald’s Anime Collab of 2026

Custom Image by Hannah Diffey Updated Sep 17, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT Hannah is a senior writer and self-publisher at ScreenRant. There, she focuses on writing news, features, and list-style articles about all things comics, books, anime, and manga. She works as a freelance writer in the entertainment industry, focusing on video games, anime, and literature. Her published works can be found on Screen Rant, FinanceBuzz, She Reads, and She Writes. Sign in to your ScreenRant account McDonald’s has spent much of 2026 turning its restaurants into unofficial destinations for anime, animation, and character collectors. While Happy Meals have always relied on recognizable entertainment properties, this year's promotions have gone well beyond the occasional licensed toy, bringing together major anime franchises, Japanese pop-culture icons, animated movies, and some genuinely unexpected crossover ideas. That makes 2026 particularly interesting for fans who grew up with these characters and now have a reason to look at McDonald’s promotions as collectibles rather than something aimed exclusively at children. From Crayon Shin-chan and Doraemon to Spy x Family, My Hero Academia, Pokémon, KPop Demon Hunters, and the newly launched One Piece × SpongeBob SquarePants crossover, McDonald’s has covered an enormous range of fandoms this year. Here’s everything worth knowing so far, along with what to watch for as 2026 continues. Crayon Shin-chan Started the Year With a McDonald’s Twist McDonald’s Japan opened 2026 with Crayon Shin-chan, giving one of Japan's best-known animated characters a particularly fitting makeover. The Happy Set promotion began January 16 and featured six toys based around McDonald’s itself, effectively turning Shin-chan and the restaurant into one playful crossover. The promotion also launched alongside a separate Pompompurin Happy Set. The Crayon Shin-chan promotion is a good example of why McDonald’s collaborations work so well with established Japanese properties. Rather than simply reproducing character images on generic merchandise, the toys were designed around the McDonald’s experience. It allowed the franchise to retain its personality while making the promotion feel like something created specifically for the partnership. Spy x Family, Boruto, Naruto, And My Hero Academia Joined Forces With UNO February brought one of the year's most unusual anime collaborations when McDonald’s Japan partnered with Spy x Family, Boruto, Naruto, and My Hero Academia through UNO. Beginning February 27, the Happy Set promotion combined the four anime franchises with the classic card game, offering six different UNO variations alongside miniature McDonald’s-themed merchandise. What made this promotion stand out was the decision to use a recognizable game instead of relying solely on character figures. Spy x Family, Boruto, Naruto, and My Hero Academia have enormous merchandise lines already, so attaching them to UNO gave the McDonald’s promotion a different purpose. It also showed how the chain has been experimenting with collaborations that have a little more utility than a conventional toy. Doraemon Returned For A Movie-Themed Happy Set McDonald’s Japan followed that with Doraemon in March. The Happy Set launched March 20 to coincide with Doraemon: New Nobita's Great Adventure into the Undersea Castle, with six toys inspired by the film's underwater setting. Several incorporated water-based play, giving the promotion a stronger connection to the movie than a simple character lineup would have provided. The timing made the collaboration particularly effective because the toys were tied directly to a theatrical release. Characters and gadgets from the movie became the foundation for the Happy Set, meaning the McDonald's promotion essentially functioned as an extension of the film's marketing campaign while remaining its own collectible event. KPop Demon Hunters Took The Anime-Adjacent Route Not every major 2026 McDonald's animation collaboration is technically anime, and KPop Demon Hunters is the clearest example. The Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation movie received a major U.S. McDonald's promotion beginning March 31, with separate HUNTR/X and Saja Boys meals, exclusive photocards, themed sauces, and fries inspired by South Korean flavors. It belongs in the wider 2026 story because the promotion demonstrates how far McDonald's is reaching into animation fandom. Instead of focusing on a Happy Meal toy, the campaign created an experience around the movie's characters and fictional rivalry. That approach also made the promotion attractive to older fans who might not ordinarily buy a children's meal simply to get a toy. Sanrio Turned McDonald's Into A Cuteness Powerhouse Sanrio has also been a significant part of McDonald's 2026 strategy, although these collaborations should not technically be described as anime. January's Pompompurin Happy Set featured six toys, including practical designs such as a memo stand, ruler and small-item holder, while an accompanying QR-code game extended the promotion beyond the physical toys. Sanrio returned in an even bigger way in April with a Hello Kitty and friends Happy Set. McDonald's Japan also introduced Hello Kitty and Pompompurin McCafé drinks, turning the characters into a broader restaurant promotion rather than limiting them to Happy Meal merchandise. For longtime Sanrio fans, that distinction matters. Hello Kitty, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll, and the rest of the Sanrio cast are part of Japanese character culture but do not need to be labeled anime for the collaboration to be significant. Their inclusion shows McDonald's is increasingly targeting nostalgia and collector interest across several generations. Chiikawa Became One Of 2026's Biggest Japanese Character Collabs May delivered another major Japanese pop-culture collaboration when Chiikawa arrived as a Happy Set in Japan. Beginning May 15, the promotion featured eight original figures depicting Chiikawa and friends as McDonald's employees, including managers, delivery crew members and McCafé staff. The concept was especially clever because it reimagined the characters rather than simply placing them on existing McDonald's products. Fans got versions of the cast created specifically for the restaurant, giving the figures a stronger identity as collaboration merchandise. The promotion was popular enough that McDonald's limited sales on the first two release dates through purchase tickets distributed via its app. Saint Seiya Got A Very Different Kind Of McDonald's Collaboration Saint Seiya took a different path in May. Rather than receiving a traditional Happy Meal toy collection, the classic anime appeared alongside McDonald's Japan's regional burger campaign. Four limited-edition packages featured characters including Pegasus Seiya, Andromeda Shun, Phoenix Ikki, Dragon Shiryu, and Cygnus Hyoga, while a new television commercial incorporated the series' famous opening theme. 1 Crunchyroll · Anime Knowledge Edition The Official CrunchyrollAnime Quiz ⚔ClassicsLegendary ✨New GenRising 🎬StudiosCreators 🏆AwardsBest of ▶StreamingWatch START STREAMING! → 01 Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) became one of the most-watched anime on Crunchyroll. The story takes place in a world where humanity lives behind massive walls to protect themselves from giant humanoid creatures. What are these creatures called? AKaiju BTitans CHollows DDemons ✓ Correct! The giant humanoid creatures are called Titans. In the original Japanese, they’re referred to as “Kyojin” (giants). Eren Yeager’s quest to destroy all Titans after they breach Wall Maria became one of the most gripping storylines in anime history. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Titans. Kaiju are giant monsters from Japanese cinema like Godzilla, Hollows are the enemy creatures in Bleach, and Demons appear in series like Demon Slayer. In Attack on Titan, these towering humanoid creatures are specifically called Titans. NEXT → 02 Studio MAPPA has become one of the most prominent anime studios in recent years, producing several massive hit series. Which of these popular anime was NOT produced by MAPPA? AJujutsu Kaisen BAttack on Titan: The Final Season CChainsaw Man DDemon Slayer ✓ Correct! Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) is produced by ufotable, not MAPPA. Ufotable’s stunning animation quality — especially the breathtaking fight sequences — became a hallmark of the Demon Slayer franchise. MAPPA produced Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan: The Final Season, and Chainsaw Man. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Demon Slayer. Demon Slayer is animated by studio ufotable, renowned for its gorgeous visual effects. MAPPA has produced Jujutsu Kaisen, took over Attack on Titan: The Final Season from WIT Studio, and animated Chainsaw Man. NEXT → 03 Solo Leveling became a massive hit anime in 2024 after being one of the most popular manhwa (Korean comics) in the world. The story follows a weak hunter who gains the unique ability to level up. What is the protagonist’s name? AJin-Woo Sung BSung Jin-Woo CKim Dokja DYoo Joonghyuk ✓ Correct! Sung Jin-Woo is the protagonist of Solo Leveling. Originally the weakest E-Rank hunter, he gains the power of the mysterious System, allowing him to level up infinitely. His transformation from the “World’s Weakest Hunter” to the most powerful Shadow Monarch captivated millions of readers and viewers. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Sung Jin-Woo. Jin-Woo Sung reverses the name order (Korean names place the surname first). Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are protagonists from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, another popular Korean series. Sung Jin-Woo is the iconic Shadow Monarch of Solo Leveling. NEXT → 04 The Crunchyroll Anime Awards celebrate the best in anime each year. Which anime won Anime of the Year at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards? AJujutsu Kaisen Season 2 BFrieren: Beyond Journey’s End COshi no Ko DVinland Saga Season 2 ✓ Correct! Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End won Anime of the Year at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. This beautifully contemplative series about an elven mage reflecting on mortality and the passage of time after her hero party’s quest ends charmed audiences and critics alike with its unique, introspective storytelling. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. While Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, Oshi no Ko, and Vinland Saga Season 2 were all critically acclaimed, it was Frieren’s meditative exploration of time, memory, and connection that captured the top prize at the 2024 ceremony. NEXT → 05 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is consistently rated as one of the greatest anime of all time. The story follows two brothers who attempted a forbidden alchemical technique. What taboo did Edward and Alphonse Elric commit? ACreating gold BHuman transmutation (trying to revive their dead mother) CDestroying a Philosopher’s Stone DKilling a homunculus ✓ Correct! Edward and Alphonse attempted human transmutation to bring their deceased mother back to life. The attempt failed catastrophically — Edward lost his left leg and then sacrificed his right arm to bind Alphonse’s soul to a suit of armor. This event drives the entire series as they search for the Philosopher’s Stone to restore their bodies. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is human transmutation — specifically, attempting to resurrect their dead mother. In the world of FMA, human transmutation is the ultimate taboo in alchemy. The brothers’ failed attempt cost Edward his limbs and Alphonse his entire body, setting the stage for their epic journey. NEXT → 06 Spy x Family became a worldwide phenomenon with its wholesome yet action-packed story of a found family. The father, Loid Forger, is secretly a spy. What is his spy codename? AAgent Dusk BTwilight CShadow DNightfall ✓ Correct! Loid Forger’s spy codename is Twilight, and he’s considered the top agent of Westalis’s intelligence service, WISE. His mission, Operation Strix, requires him to build a fake family — leading him to adopt the telepathic Anya and marry the assassin Yor, creating one of anime’s most beloved found families. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Twilight. Agent Dusk and Shadow are fictional names, while Nightfall is actually the codename of another WISE agent, Fiona Frost, who has a crush on Loid. Twilight is Westalis’s greatest spy and the heart of Spy x Family’s charming story. NEXT → 07 Crunchyroll merged with another major anime streaming service to become the dominant platform for anime. Which streaming service was absorbed into Crunchyroll? ANetflix Anime BFunimation CHIDIVE DAnimeLab ✓ Correct! Funimation was merged into Crunchyroll after Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T in 2021. The merger consolidated the anime streaming market, bringing Funimation’s massive library of dubbed anime together with Crunchyroll’s simulcast catalog, making Crunchyroll the world’s largest dedicated anime platform. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is Funimation. Netflix Anime is part of Netflix and operates independently, HIDIVE is Sentai Filmworks’ streaming service, and AnimeLab was a smaller Australian service. Funimation — once Crunchyroll’s biggest rival — was fully absorbed into the Crunchyroll platform. NEXT → 08 Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are legendary in the anime world. Miyazaki’s final film was released in 2023 and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. What is the title of this film? ASpirited Away 2 BThe Wind Rises CThe Boy and the Heron DPonyo Returns ✓ Correct! The Boy and the Heron (Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) was released in 2023 and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2024. The deeply personal, surrealist fantasy film was widely considered Miyazaki’s farewell masterpiece, exploring themes of grief, imagination, and the passage between worlds. ✗ That answer needs more filler training! The answer is The Boy and the Heron. Spirited Away 2 and Ponyo Returns don’t exist. The Wind Rises was Miyazaki’s previous “final” film from 2013. The Boy and the Heron marked his true farewell, winning the Oscar and cementing his legacy as anime’s greatest storyteller. REVEAL MY SCORE → Binge Complete Your Anime Watch Level / 8 Are you an anime sensei — or still on episode one? ↻ REWATCH That makes Saint Seiya an important inclusion in any complete 2026 McDonald's anime roundup. It proves that an anime partnership does not necessarily have to revolve around Happy Meal toys. McDonald's is also willing to build an entire food campaign around a franchise, using packaging, advertising and music to recreate a recognizable piece of anime culture. Pokémon Became A Full Summer Event Few 2026 partnerships were as extensive as McDonald's Japan's Pokémon collaboration. The summer campaign was built around the 30th anniversary of Pokémon and McDonald's Japan's 55th anniversary, with promotions spanning food, merchandise, a special summer bag and Happy Set toys. McDonald's described it as its largest-ever same-period partnership with the property in terms of the number of promotional categories involved. The Happy Set portion began August 7 and included 12 toys featuring Pokémon such as Pikachu, Eevee, and Snorlax, as well as groups of starter Pokémon from different generations. The promotion was not simply about collecting individual characters, either, with several toys offering interactive elements that could be combined or used for games. The scale of the campaign is important because Pokémon is a perfect example of the audience McDonald's has increasingly been reaching through these partnerships. Pokémon has decades of history behind it, giving parents and older collectors plenty of familiarity with the franchise while remaining instantly recognizable to younger fans. Hello Kitty And Godzilla Made The Summer Even Wilder McDonald's USA delivered another unexpected crossover on August 18 with the Hello Kitty & Friends x Godzilla Happy Meal. Rather than choosing between Sanrio's cute characters and Godzilla's giant monsters, the promotion mashed the two worlds together, producing eight different collectible toys based on Sanrio characters and Godzilla monsters. This is technically another character and movie crossover rather than an anime collaboration, but it belongs in the broader McDonald's 2026 story because it captures the same collector-focused strategy seen throughout the year. A promotion like this does not require customers to know a particular anime series. The appeal comes from recognizing two major pop-culture brands and seeing them reinterpreted together. One Piece And SpongeBob Are McDonald's Biggest Crossover Yet The latest major development arrived September 15, when McDonald's USA launched the SpongeBob SquarePants x One Piece Happy Meal. The promotion brings together two franchises built around the ocean, reimagining SpongeBob characters as members of the One Piece Straw Hat crew. McDonald's says the U.S. collection contains 15 exclusive toys and is available for a limited time at participating restaurants nationwide. The mashups include SpongeBob as Monkey D. Luffy, Patrick as Roronoa Zoro, Squidward as Sanji, and Gary as Tony Tony Chopper. The crossover is particularly unusual because neither franchise has to dominate the other; instead, the entire concept is built around combining their casts into one deliberately strange collectible lineup. The promotion has also received an international rollout, although the exact toy count and schedule differ by market. In Singapore, for example, the promotion features 10 toys released across five weekly waves, while the U.S. campaign includes 15 toys. That variation is another reason fans should check their local McDonald's rather than assuming every market received the same collection. What's Coming For McDonald's Anime Fans In The Rest Of 2026? As of September 17, 2026, the One Piece × SpongeBob Happy Meal is the newest major anime-related McDonald's collaboration officially confirmed for the U.S. The promotion is already running, and its limited-time nature means it is likely to remain the most immediate McDonald's collectible event for fans heading into fall. McDonald's Japan, meanwhile, has continued announcing Happy Set programs for the fall, but its September lineup has shifted toward properties such as Plarail and Sumikko Gurashi rather than another newly announced anime franchise. As of this writing, there is not another major late-2026 anime Happy Meal campaign that McDonald's has officially announced. That does not mean the year is necessarily finished for anime fans. McDonald's has repeatedly announced collaborations in stages, and its 2026 schedule has already moved between anime, games, manga-inspired properties, animation and Japanese character brands. That makes future announcements worth watching, especially because this year's partnerships have shown that the next collaboration can take a very different form from the one before it. For now, though, the 2026 McDonald's anime and animation lineup already covers an unusually broad collection of fandoms. The year began with Crayon Shin-chan, moved through Hello Kitty, Spy x Family, My Hero Academia, Doraemon, KPop Demon Hunters, Chiikawa, Saint Seiya, and Pokémon, and ultimately arrived at a crossover pairing One Piece with SpongeBob SquarePants. With more than three months of the year already behind it, McDonald's has made one thing clear: its collectible partnerships are no longer limited to a single type of fan—or even a single kind of franchise. TV Show(s) Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater (1987), Hello Kitty and Friends (1989), Hello Kitty's Paradise (1999), Growing Up With Hello Kitty (2001), Hello Kitty's Animation Theater (2001), Hello Kitty's Stump Village (2005), Hello Kitty: Ringo no Mori (2006), The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends (2008), The World of Hello Kitty (2016), Hello Kitty & Friends - Let's Learn Together (2017), Hello Kitty Channel (2018), Gundam vs Hello Kitty, Hello Kitty Fun (2019), Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures (2020), Hello Kitty: Super Style! (2022) Video Game(s) Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Hello Kitty and Friends Happiness Parade First Film Hello Kitty: Cinderella (1989) First TV Show Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater (1987) Cast Megumi Hayashibara, Karen Bernstein, Tara Strong, Sam Vincent, Elizabeth Daily, Cree Summer, Ian James Corlett, Lisa Wilhoit Created by Yuko Shimizu