McDonald's Pokémon Cards 2026: Happy Meal Dates and Set

McDonald's Pokémon cards are coming back to US Happy Meals. According to PokeBeach, which broke the news, the promotion runs from November 5 to December 9, 2026, and it's tied to Pokémon's 30th anniversary. Each Happy Meal gets one small booster pack, and the set has 15 cards.

That's the short version. The card list hasn't been revealed yet, and neither McDonald's nor The Pokémon Company had announced the promotion themselves when we published this. So below is what's been reported, what's still a guess, and what the last few McDonald's sets tell us about this one.

What's in each Happy Meal pack

Each Happy Meal includes one four-card booster. Per PokeBeach, every pack has one holo card and three non-holo cards.

The set is 15 cards in total, and six of them are holos printed on confetti holofoil. If you haven't seen it, confetti holo is the speckled foil pattern The Pokémon Company uses on McDonald's promos, and it's the easiest way to tell a Happy Meal holo apart from a regular one at a glance.

Buyers will reportedly get a choice between a Pokémon toy and a Pokémon Essential Handbook in the meal. There's a guess going around that the toy is a card display. Nobody has confirmed that.

Wait, wasn't this supposed to happen in February?

Yes. In December 2025, PokeBeach first reported that a US McDonald's promotion was coming for the 30th anniversary, and early coverage pointed at a February to March 2026 window around Pokémon Day. That window came and went with no cards in Happy Meals.

The November dates are the updated report. We don't know why it moved. Honestly, a Happy Meal promo landing in the middle of the 30th Celebration product schedule makes more sense for Pokémon than one in February. The Ditto Premium Collection and the Ultra-Premium Collection both release on November 6, the day after the Happy Meals start.

Which cards will be in the set?

We don't know yet. The card list hasn't been shown, and anyone posting a "leaked" 2026 list right now is guessing.

History gives us a rough idea. McDonald's sets usually lean on Pikachu and starter Pokémon. They've also typically been reprints of existing cards rather than brand-new ones. The last US set, the 2025 Dragon Discovery promotion, broke the starter pattern. It was built around Dragon-type Pokémon, with Charizard, Dragonite with Pikachu, Rayquaza and Roaring Moon on the four Happy Meal boxes, though the 15-card list still found room for Pikachu, Eevee and Umbreon.

Given that this one is a 30th anniversary set, I'd bet on the Kanto side of things. The 25th anniversary promo leaned heavily on starters, and Pokémon has put Gen 1 front and centre all year. But that's a guess, not a leak.

Will "Burgerchu" come to the US?

This is the one a lot of collectors are hoping for. McDonald's Japan started its own Happy Set promotion on August 9, 2025, and every Happy Set came with a new Pikachu card, numbered 020/M-P, showing Pikachu reaching for a hamburger. Collectors call it Burgerchu. The art is by Kodama.

It was Japan-only. There's no confirmation it's part of the US set. If it does show up, it would easily be the card everyone opens packs for, which is exactly why I wouldn't count on it.

How past McDonald's Pokémon promos went

McDonald's has run Pokémon TCG promotions in most years since 2011, and the recent ones follow a pattern.

The 25th anniversary set in February 2021 is the one everyone remembers, for the wrong reasons. It had 25 cards, each in a holo and a non-holo version, so 50 to collect. Adults bought Happy Meals in bulk for the cards, packs appeared on eBay for many times the meal price, and restaurants ran out. Newsweek reported that McDonald's responded by "strongly encouraging restaurants to set a reasonable limit on Happy Meals sold per customer."

After that, the sets settled into the 15-card format this year's promo is reported to use.

The Dragon Discovery promotion ran in the US from January 21 to late February 2025, according to Pokémon's own announcement. It also came with TCG Pocket hourglasses through the McDonald's app, which is worth watching for again this time.

Are McDonald's Pokémon cards worth anything?

Most of them aren't worth much on their own. These are printed in huge numbers for a fast-food promotion, so a loose non-holo is a small-money card. The ones that hold interest are holos of popular Pokémon, complete sets in good condition, and anything that grades high. Check the actual prices before you assume either way.

That's why I'd skip the scalper listings in the first week. When a promo gets hyped, prices tend to spike early and then settle once the whole print run is out in the world. Our piece on Pokémon card scalpers goes into why that keeps happening.

If you open a stack of these, sleeve the holos straight away. Confetti holo scratches like any other foil, and condition is a big part of what a promo card is worth. The storage guide covers the basics.

How to check what your McDonald's cards are worth

You can look up past McDonald's sets for free on Scryda, including the 2021 25th Anniversary set with every card and its current price, or check any single card on the Pokémon card value page. The Scryda app scans Pokémon cards from your camera and adds them to a collection, which saves typing when you're working through a few Happy Meals' worth of packs. Once the 2026 cards are out and in the catalogue, the same goes for them.

I'll update this article when the card list is revealed.

Frequently asked questions

When are Pokémon cards back at McDonald's in 2026?

November 5 to December 9, 2026 in the US, according to PokeBeach. Other countries are getting the promotion too, but on different dates.

What comes in a 2026 McDonald's Pokémon pack?

Four cards: one holo and three non-holo. The full set is 15 cards, six of them confetti holofoil.

Has McDonald's officially announced the 2026 Pokémon Happy Meal?

Not when we published this. The dates and pack details come from PokeBeach's report in September 2026. Last time, Pokémon's own announcement went up on launch day, January 21, 2025.

Is the Burgerchu Pikachu card in the US set?

It hasn't been confirmed. The burger Pikachu (020/M-P) was a McDonald's Japan exclusive from August 2025, and the 2026 US card list hasn't been revealed.

Can you buy the cards without a Happy Meal?

Past US promotions tied the cards to Happy Meals, and there's no sign that's changing. In 2021, McDonald's asked restaurants to set their own limits on how many Happy Meals one customer could buy.