Start Date And Other Details About Pokemon's New McDonald's Promo Leak

Published Oct 28, 2026, 3:59 AM EDT Josh Coulson is an editor at TheGamer covering breaking news on everything from colorful platformers to the latest Lego sets. Primarily a news writer since 2018, Josh has covered just about every major game from the past decade. Now an editor, their focus has shifted to being the leading affiliate expert at the site, building relationships between TheGamer and global brands including Mattel, Funko, and The Pokemon Company. Despite scalpers doing their level best to ruin the events, Pokemon is returning to McDonald’s. No official word from the fast food chain on the finer details of what its next Pokemon promo will include just yet, which is surprising as a new leak suggests its start date is right around the corner. McDonald's Is Turning Pokemon Into Collectible Happy Meal Boxes The Pokemon Company Images of promotional materials that have seemingly been sent to restaurants ahead of the promo’s launch have revealed that, along with the usual cards, McDonald’s customers will get a mini toy box with their Happy Meals, each design featuring a different Pokemon. Some obvious and popular choices in there, like Charmander and Pikachu, but also some slightly deeper cuts with Espurr and Minccino making the cut. Pikachu Bulbasaur Charmander Squirtle Sprigatito Espurr Minccino Munchlax Piplup Sobble Eevee Umbreon Rowlet Torchic Weedle The new leaks have also revealed when you’ll be able to start collecting those boxes along with the latest set of reprinted McDonald’s Pokemon cards. According to Pokebeach, the promotion will start on November 10 in the US and run through to December 14. It will begin a little earlier in Canada, kicking off on November 3 and ending on December 7, and also in Australia, where the promotion begins on November 5 and runs until December 9. There will also be 15 cards to collect, and supposedly just two cards in each Happy Meal’s promo pack. An interesting change if true, as McDonald’s booster packs have traditionally included four cards. Pokemon Cards Will Return Despite Prior Issues McDonald’s Pokemon cards are usually reprints of pre-existing cards from other expansions, with either holofoil confetti or a McDonald’s stamp to make them unique. The cards included in the upcoming promo haven’t been confirmed, but Hawlucha (Scarlet & Violet), Metagross (Temporal Forces), and Palafin (Obsidian Flames) are believed to be among them. With each passing Pokemon x McDonald’s team-up, there’s the underlying fear that scalping will eventually convince both sides that they aren’t worth doing anymore, or at the very least, for the promo cards to be scrapped. The last time cards were included with Happy Meals in Japan, “fans” were buying the meals in bulk, ripping them apart to get the cards, and tossing the food into the street. It became a big enough issue that the promo was altered and the cards were quickly replaced with toys. It’s not as if the situation surrounding the TCG has gotten any better since then either. Scalpers continue to try and ruin the hobby for the majority of fans and collectors despite Pokemon’s best efforts to thwart them. The Pokemon Company did win the last battle, upping the pull rates of its 30th anniversary set so much that scalpers were left with lots of expensive products they couldn’t sell for inflated prices. Release Date 1997 - 2023-00-00 Network TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC Directors Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Ooga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuza, Bjarne Heuser, Naoki Murata, Kenichi Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano Cast Rica Matsumoto Satoshi (voice) Ikue Otani Pikachu (voice)