SpongeBob SquarePants x One Piece Happy Meal Collaboration Launches September 15
The pairing of a Nickelodeon property with a long-running anime franchise in a global fast-food promotion signals McDonald's treating anime-adjacent merchandise as a mainstream marketing category, not a niche play.
Key Facts
- The SpongeBob SquarePants x One Piece Happy Meal collaboration launches September 15, 2026.
- The U.S. collection features 15 exclusive toys pairing SpongeBob characters with One Piece characters.
- SpongeBob appears as both Luffy and Gear 5 Luffy in the toy lineup.
- The collaboration runs in the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, China, Korea, Indonesia, Germany, and France.
- McDonald's first teased the collaboration on August 13 with an image of SpongeBob dressed as Luffy.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, Anime Corner.
McDonald's is bringing SpongeBob SquarePants and One Piece together for a Happy Meal collaboration launching September 15, 2026. The company began streaming an animated commercial on Monday that shows SpongeBob characters dressed as One Piece's Straw Hat Pirates and antagonists, following an initial teaser image posted on August 13 that featured SpongeBob as Luffy. The U.S. collection includes 15 exclusive toys, with SpongeBob appearing as both Luffy and Gear 5 Luffy. Other pairings include Patrick as Zoro, Sandy as Nami, Plankton as Usopp, Squidward as Sanji, Gary as Chopper, Pearl as Robin, Larry as Franky, Smitty as Brook, Mr. Krabs as Jinbe, Mermaid Man as Garp, Barnacle Boy as Koby, Mrs. Puff as Big Mom, and Flying Dutchman as Blackbeard. The collaboration will run in multiple regions globally, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, China, Korea, Indonesia, Germany, and France. McDonald's announced the news on X/Twitter with the message that they have "truly entered the great Happy Meal era." This is not the first collaboration between the two franchises.
- The animated commercial is titled "SpongeBob SquarePants x ONE PIECE Combined Intro" and was shared on the official ONE PIECE YouTube channel on August 31.
- Some regional McDonald's campaigns outside the U.S. feature 12 collectible figures paired with interchangeable ships that combine imagery and locations from both franchises.
- The One Piece anime's Elbaph arc debuted in Japan on April 5 and is streaming on Crunchyroll.
- McDonald's posted the announcement on X/Twitter with the message: "[We've] truly entered the great Happy Meal era. SpongeBob x One Piece coming 9.15."
- The franchise has several upcoming projects: a LEGO special animation with two episodes on September 29, a live-action Season 3 set for 2027 with new Alabasta cast, a WIT Studio remake anime premiering February 2027, a game titled ONE PIECE: Grand Gourmet launching October 23, 2026, and two films (ONE PIECE FILM GOD VALLEY in Summer 2027 and ONE PIECE FILM BAAD in 2029).
- The collaboration is credited to Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation, and Viacom, with SpongeBob SquarePants created by Stephen Hillenburg.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.