The McDonald’s Happy Meal has been a part of the fast food brand since the 1970s. Debuting as an idea from one of McDonald’s Guatemalan franchises, it soon became the corporate norm. Hired adman Bob Bernstein has been historically credited with the creation of the “Happy Meal” branding, which was designed to get kids back in the restaurant after a noticeable decline in younger patrons. Bernstein also pushed the idea of adding toys to the mix, which instantly skyrocketed the restaurant’s popularity.

Over the years, McDonald’s has featured plenty of different brands in their regularly shifting Happy Meal, including some of your favorite movies and TV shows. If you grew up regularly eating at the fast food chain, then some of these will probably be familiar to you.

But which Happy Meal toys were the best? If we had to account for all of them — such as Beanie Babies, Hot Wheels, Changeables, and Boo Buckets — we’d be talking about McDonald’s-made plastic for years. But when it comes to prizes specifically based on movies or television, well, that narrows things down. Over the years, everyone from Batman and Power Rangers to Disney Princesses and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been featured by the fast food chain. With a large pool to choose from, join us as we rank our favorite McDonald’s Happy Meal toys inspired by film and television. Prepare for a blast from the past!

McDonald’s has run a few different Bionicle campaigns over the years, but the best by far was the original in 2001. Okay, admittedly, the first Bionicle movie — “Bionicle: Mask of Light” — wouldn’t come out until 2003, but considering how awesome these figures were (and given that they retroactively tie into the film), we’ll let this one slide. These toys actually fit together and break apart like real LEGO Bionicles, and one could use the masks that came in the Happy Meals on their actual Bionicle figures at home. The synergy was real between McDonald’s and LEGO at the time, and those of us who grew up with these couldn’t get enough.

More exciting, though, was that you could collect all six of these Bionicle minis (called Matoran in the lore) and combine them together into a full-sized figure of your own making. Each of these toys came with their own throwing disc as well, which one could easily aim at their older sibling. Unfortunately, later “Bionicle” Happy Meal toys, based more on the movies than the overall brand itself, were just plastic action figures that didn’t coexist with their LEGO counterparts. They were nothing but plastic molds, with nothing LEGO about them. As a result, the originals are still the best of the bunch. Though LEGO has effectively discontinued the Bionicle brand, we can look back at its humble beginnings and remember fondly those original figures that expanded the world.

“Enjoy the lean, green ninja team,” as the ads once said. As with Bionicle, McDonald’s has offered plenty of different “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” options over the years. Sometimes the fast food chain promoted the latest animated series, and other times a feature film, but none of the TMNT lineups that McDonald’s put out were better than the 2016 set based on the 2012 Nickelodeon series unsurprisingly titled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Yes, there was an earlier batch of toys released that connected to the series when it first aired, but the 2016 versions were better. These figures were bendy, action-packed, and super-entertaining for kids, especially because each turtle got not one but two different variants. 

Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael were all fully-functioning figures, with weaponed arms that twisted, makeshift wings that flapped, and body parts that were ready for any attack by villainous forces. The only downside to these toys was that there were no enemies for them to fight, so you were forced to get creative with how it all played out. For all you Happy Meal collectors out there, each Ninja Turtle came with a collectible disc as well. Even if the 2012 “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” wasn’t the most beloved TMNT animated series out there — of all the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle incarnations, the 2003 Fox series was the best — there was no doubt that these toys rocked, dude.

For a brief time in fast food history, McDonald’s offered older kids a “Mighty Kid’s Meal,” which came with more food and more mature Happy Meal toys. Eventually, this was folded back into the Happy Meal, but one toy branded under the “Mighty Kids” name was the 2001 “Action Man.” Now, this franchise has a strange history, and McDonald’s did have an “Action Man” toy back in 1996 as well. But while the ’96 toys were based on the 1995 series of the same name (itself based on a classic U.K. toy line), the 2001 toys pulled from the 2000 animated series, which was also titled “Action Man.” Frankly, though, neither television series was as interesting as their McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, which flat-out stole the show.

Each “Action Man” figure featured our titular hero performing a new extreme sport. One figure put Action Man in a jet plane or on a hang glider, while another would give him a snowmobile or a motorcycle. What was cool about these toys (aside from the death-defying stunts one could perform with them) was that McDonald’s also provided a villain for our hero to outrace. Dr. X was a cyborg with his own chopper that could speed alongside the Action Man motorcycle figure. While the “Action Man” TV shows might’ve been a bust, these toys were a blast and stuck with many kids of this era throughout their childhood.

“How to Train Your Dragon” was a serious hit with audiences and critics alike, so it came as no surprise that a sequel would make its way to theaters only a few years later. Now, unlike most of the sets on this list, 2014’s “How to Train Your Dragon 2” toys were a bit different in the United States vs. the United Kingdom. In the US, kids only got frisbee discs with different “Dragons” characters on them, which was beyond lame. But those in the UK had the chance to nab one of 14 different characters – 12 different dragons or two humans, Hiccup or Astrid. Why McDonald’s did this, we have no idea, but those who grew up in the UK got the better end of the deal here, for sure.

Of course, kids in the US got dragon figures back when the first movie was released in 2010, but those were nothing compared to the toys McDonald’s unleashed in the UK four years later. Not only did each of the dragons have flappable wings and interactive features, but the inclusion of some of the human characters as well made this line more unique. With a “How to Train Your Dragon” live-action reboot in the works, we wouldn’t be surprised if McDonald’s revisited this idea again in 2025. Hopefully, this time they won’t give American children frisbees when they really want dragons.

Disney’s “Tarzan” was huge at McDonald’s. Between “sound straws,” plush toys, and the “Jungle Surprise” raffle, there were plenty of reasons to hit up the fast food chain after seeing Disney’s 1999 jungle adventure. But for young kids at the time, the primary motive was the new Happy Meal figures. When Disney’s animated jungle flick hit theaters, McDonald’s produced some of the best action figures they ever pushed on their younger customers. Tarzan (riding on a moss-covered jungle log) was complete posable and could go up against both the villainous Clayton and the leopard Sabor, who, if pulled back, would pounce on its prey.

Each figure had a distinct action that made them exciting to play with, from Clayton’s sword jabs to Tantor’s frightened vibrations. But as fun as they were on their own, McDonald’s original “Tarzan” figures were even more enjoyable when played with all together. Who didn’t love putting Tarzan on Tantor’s back or winding up the Kala figure (who came with a young Tarzan on her back) to race Professor Porter across the kitchen table? Though McDonald’s revisited “Tarzan” again when the film hit home video (a practice Disney and McDonald’s have often employed), it was these original figures that were the most notable. Considering that “Tarzan” the movie is pretty incredible, it makes sense that his Happy Meal toys were too.

There was nothing quite like the late ’90s/early 2000s era of Pixar. Classics like the first two “Toy Story” films, “A Bug’s Life,” “Finding Nemo,” and “The Incredibles” were some of the best animation of our day. But in 2001, audiences were blown away by “Monsters, Inc.,” which made us laugh both on the big screen and through its McDonald’s ad campaign. For the first time in McDonald’s history, their “Monsters, Inc.” tie-in ads featured Disney characters actually eating at the fast food chain, with Mike and Sully enjoying their own Happy Meals. What’s funnier is that, in the commercial, Mike frantically searches for his own toy, failing to find it before Sully can hold it over his head.

Ad campaigns aside, the “Monsters, Inc.” toys were a delight. Each of the 10 different figures gave us a new monster (or the human child, Boo) complete with their own scare door to go through. These doors (and Celia’s corporate desk) could be connected together to semi-recreate the scare floor from the film, and some of the monsters would even glow in the dark (Mike being one of them). All the primary characters were represented here, and a few supporting characters as well, making this one of McDonald’s most complete sets. It was always a blast running around with these strange (but mostly friendly) looking monsters, even if they were made of plastic.

The hype around Disney/Pixar’s “The Incredibles” was very real in 2004, and was amped up even more due to the fact that one could get their very own “Incredibles” action figure at McDonald’s. Pixar even went so far as to help the fast food chain promote their super-toys by putting together an advertisement with Dash and Violet at the center, with the former playing with said action figures in a McDonald’s restaurant. It’s no wonder that kids everywhere flocked to their nearest location to nab one of the eight different figures. But what was even neater about McDonald’s “Incredibles” toys was how each one played in conjunction with the character’s own superpowers.

Sure, the Incredimobile was just a pull-back car, and Syndrome and his Omnidroid was pretty standard, but Mr. Incredible had dual-action punching power, and Elastigirl/Mrs. Incredible could bend her arms and torso every which way. Additionally, the Dash figure could be wound up to run all across the room, and Violet’s could generate a plastic “force field” effect that glowed when you continually pressed the button on her figure’s base. For kids enthralled by “The Incredibles” on the big screen, it was an easy way to bring the action home with them and create their own comic book-inspired stories for hours on end. Long before “The Incredibles 2” was announced, kids were crafting sequels of their own with these Happy Meal toys from the comfort of their living rooms.

Nothing says the ’90s quite like the original “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers,” and this group of teenagers with attitudes left their mark on McDonald’s as well as the town of Angel Grove. Though the original television series got some pretty lame Happy Meal toys, 1995’s classic “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie” redeemed that with six posable Power Ranger figures, complete with their own Ninjazords. The White Ranger even appeared in the commercial. If you grew up at the time, these were the coolest Happy Meal toys out there. In fact, these were so popular that the Red Ranger was brought back by McDonald’s years later in celebration of the restaurant’s 40th anniversary. Not only did these toys tie into the new movie, but they also made MMPR figures more accessible to kids who couldn’t go out and buy Zords of their own.

Of course, McDonald’s and Power Rangers have a pretty substantial history, with plenty of different TV incarnations finding their way into Happy Meals over the years. But only one set stands above the rest: 2000’s “Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.” In this batch of 11 figures, kids would either get their own Power Ranger or Lightspeed Rescue vehicle. What was especially cool about these was that, in true Power Rangers fashion, the vehicles could be connected to build the Lightspeed Rescue train from the show. Likewise, each Power Ranger casing was a piece of a larger Megazord, so if all five Rangers were collected, you could mash their pieces together to build a bigger hero.

As with Disney’s “Tarzan,” the 1992 follow-up to Tim Burton’s “Batman” movie, “Batman Returns,” was huge at McDonald’s. Everything at the fast food joint was Bat-themed at the time, from the collectible cups with disc lids to new, limited-edition packaging. “We’ve never before given over our packaging like we have with this promotion,” Susan Bergen of McDonald’s public relations once revealed to the Los Angeles Times. To take it all a step further, four “Batman Returns” toys were included in the Happy Meals: a Batmobile, Penguin’s “Roto-Roadster,” Catwoman’s “Cat Coupe,” and Batman in a press-and-go vehicle that kind of looked like a tank. But Warner Bros. got into trouble over their partnership with McDonald’s after parents then took their kids to see the film. It turns out, Burton’s sequel wasn’t entirely “child-friendly,” something adult viewers of “Batman Returns” only noticed later.

McDonald’s rectified their Bat-drama the following year when its then-new Happy Meal venture focused specifically on “Batman: The Animated Series.” Though plenty of Batman shows would get Happy Meal toys going forward, including “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “Young Justice,” and “Beware the Batman,” these figures were the best. Combining the press-and-go car idea from their “Returns” campaign (featuring Robin, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and the Joker) with more traditional action figures (including Batman, Batgirl, Catwoman, and Riddler), these “Batman: The Animated Series” toys were gold for kids who were raised on the Fox Kids-era of cartoons. And this time, parents had nothing to complain about.

In 2001, Disney began its “100 Years of Magic” celebration in honor of Walt Disney’s 100th birthday, an event that continued into 2003. In 2002, McDonald’s joined the festivities and offered kids their own piece of the magic with 100 different PVC collectable figures. For over a month, kids could get a new figure to add to their Disney collection with every Happy Meal. Figures ranged from the original Steamboat Willie cartoon all the way to Disney’s latest adventure, the seriously underrated “Atlantis: The Lost Empire.” Each character stood on a small platform with their name on it as well as the date of their first appearance, making the whole thing a little bit more magical.

The only downside to Disney’s “100 Years of Magic” collection was that it was nearly impossible to actually collect them all. Even if one went full “Supersize Me” and ate at McDonald’s every day during the time these were available, it still wouldn’t be enough to nab every one of these figurines. Still, these were really cool, and gave some kids the chance to explore Disney pictures that they may not have grown up with. For adults, it encouraged them to get into the collecting business themselves while reliving their own childhood in the process. To this day, folks are still trying to collect them all.

“Go, Go Gadget Happy Meal!” Perhaps the greatest Happy Meal toys to come out of McDonald’s based on a movie or TV series were the tie-ins for Disney’s live-action “Inspector Gadget” film. Yes, the movie itself was a bit of a bust, but the Happy Meal toys were elite. Legs that are actually flashlights, arms that double as extendable grabbers (as if they’re anything else), and a torso that sparks like a lighter are only some of the mini-toys make up the completed figure. Alone, many of these toys are fine little “gadgets” that can be used independently of each other. Sure, some may feel like your standard fast food fare, but when combined, they become your very own Inspector Gadget, who actually resembles Matthew Broderick.

Over a foot tall when fully assembled, McDonald’s Inspector Gadget is kind of remarkable when you think of it. Around the same time that “Power Ranger” Megazords were popular, the fast food chain was taking multi-part toys to the next level by making each element of the titular character unique on its own and invaluable when put together. Much like “Action Man,” the McDonald’s toys were much better than the actual product they were meant to promote. There’s nothing quite like putting together your own Inspector Gadget; no matter which way you slice it, this one is still really cool.