Pompompurin, the adorable beret-sporting golden retriever most notable for showing off his puppy backside as a signature charm point, won the 2025 Sanrio Character Ranking — finally overthrowing long-standing champion Cinnamoroll with 5.6 million votes.

This year Pompompurin is also celebrating his 30th anniversary. With so much to celebrate, Pompompurin is kicking off his big year at McDonald’s. Starting on January 16, the character will be visiting the golden arches nationwide with a new collection of Happy Meal toys.

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Image courtesy of McDonald’s | © Yoshito Usui/Futabasha, Shin-ei, TV Asahi, ADK © 2026 SANRIO CO., LTD. APPROVAL NO. L662387

How To Get the Happy Meal Toys

The Happy Meal collection of course features Pompompurin, but also includes his supporting cast of friends such as Muffin the hamster, Bagel the squirrel and Scone the mouse. The toy release is scheduled to run for four weeks, and will be divided into three rounds. 

From January 16 to January 22, guests can receive the Pompompurin teapot, the Pompompurin rolling cart or the Pompompurin flapping ears pencil cap.

From January 23 to January 29, guests can receive the Pompompurin clock-shaped memo stand, the Pompompurin beret ruler or the Pompompurin fork stand.

In the final round, from January 30, remaining toys from both of the previous rounds will be distributed. The toys will be given out randomly inside of Happy Meal (known as “Happy Set” in Japan) boxes and cannot be exchanged.

Extra Campaign Activities

The toy boxes will be printed with a QR code that can be scanned with a smartphone to access the “Pompompurin’s Happy Dancing” rhythm game. The stage, music and Pompompurin’s costume in the game changes depending on the scanned toy box. The mobile game will be available to play from January 16 to February 22 until 11:59 p.m.

Pompompurin and Muffin will also be taking over McDonald’s speakers with a special broadcast. The characters will deliver a short message and play the 30th anniversary theme song “Pom Pom Pow.”

Crayon Shin-Chan Collaboration

Simultaneously being released with the Pompompurin collection, the (sometimes quite literally) cheeky Crayon Shin-chan will also have limited-edition toys. The Happy Meal toys feature fun designs of Shin-chan dressed up as a McDonald’s worker.

From January 16 to January 22, guests can receive the transforming quantum robot, the Shin-chan pop-up figure or the Shin-chan action slider.

From January 23 to January 29, guests can receive the McDonald’s delivery cart, the card came set or the Shin-chan dial. From January 3, any remaining toys will be distributed.

mcdonalds japan new years

Preventing Resellers and Food Waste

With past highly-anticipated Happy Meal collaborations like this, including My Melody and Kuromi, Pokemon and Chiikawa, release days have been packed with chaos and frustration caused by scalpers who purchase the kids’ meals in bulk in order to gather as many toys as possible to later resell online for a considerable markup.

Scalper greed leaves not only disappointed customers but also loads of food waste as resellers snatch the limited-edition toys and abandon uneaten orders. This has been one of the biggest controversies for these McDonald’s collaborations and viral videos of Happy Meals going straight to the garbage bins has previously sparked outrage online.

With anticipated popularity, McDonald’s instilled preventative measures during the My Melody and Kuromi collaboration — Happy Meals were limited to in-store sales and up to 3 orders per customer. 

This time around, McDonald’s has not explicitly stated any rules or restrictions regarding the Pompompurin toys. The collaboration announcement briefly acknowledges past controversies with a small warning that reads, “Please refrain from purchasing for resale or other commercial purposes. Also, please refrain from ordering more than you can eat.”

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Updated On January 16, 2026