Burger King is putting Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Beerus on the menu as it brings Dragon Ball Super into its restaurants for a limited-time promotion.
The fast-food chain has teamed up with Toei Animation for the "Dragon Ball Super Power Up Pack," launching this month at participating U.S. restaurants.
The campaign gives fans a 10-piece order of Burger King’s newly launched Chicken Nuggets, which debuted around the same time as the collab.
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The meal also includes the new Super Saiyan Sauce, Dragon Ball Burst Lemonade with mango-flavored popping boba, medium fries, and one of six exclusive figurines.
As for the featured Dragon Ball characters, six fan favorites grace the lineup:
- Goku
- Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Goku
- Vegeta
- Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta
- Piccolo
- Beerus
The collaboration also moves into Burger King’s packaging, with the "Power Up Pack" arriving in limited-time Dragon Ball Super packaging alongside a themed crown.
"At Burger King, we're always looking for ways to create experiences that go beyond the meal," said Joel Yashinsky, CMO of Burger King U.S. & Canada.
The fast food chain's strategy finds relevance as anime becomes a larger commercial category.
Grand View Research estimates the global anime market reached $37.7 billion in 2025 and projects it to reach $41.7 billion in 2026.
Merchandising accounted for more than 31% of the market’s revenue share in 2025, making physical products an important part of the wider opportunity.
Made for All Kinds of Customers
Burger King is also putting the collaboration in front of both adult customers and families.
A Dragon Ball "Super-themed King Jr. Meal" gives younger fans a choice of hamburger, cheeseburger, or four- or six-piece Chicken Nuggets.
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It will also come alongside a side, drink, themed crown, and one of the six figurines.
"Dragon Ball Super has inspired generations, and this collaboration gives families a fun, unexpected way to engage with a world they love," Yashinsky shared.
The result is an IP activation with several physical touchpoints, from the food and drink to the collectible and packaging.
This makes the restaurant itself part of the campaign experience, a familiar tactic in experiential marketing where branded environments and products give audiences more to interact with.
Burger King’s Dragon Ball Super Push
The strategy fits an anime merchandise market where figurines represent the largest product segment, accounting for 37% of revenue in 2025, according to Grand View Research.
McDonald’s SpongeBob SquarePants x One Piece Happy Meal pursued a similar anime-driven strategy this fall, with 15 collectible toys across its rollout.
we’ve truly entered the great Happy Meal era. SpongeBob x One Piece coming 9.15 pic.twitter.com/W4sT4KhulZ
— McDonald's (@McDonalds) August 31, 2026
Burger King’s six-character set is smaller, but the underlying idea is familiar.
Both consumer brands gave fandom a reason to enter a restaurant and make the product itself part of the entertainment:
- Give the IP a physical reason to matter. The figurines make Dragon Ball Super something customers can take home, display, photograph, and discuss.
- Bake repeat behavior into the offer: A six-character collection gives the promotion a natural second-visit mechanic without requiring Burger King to add a discount to every purchase.
- Push the idea across the customer journey. Themed packaging, crowns, menu items, and ordering channels make the partnership visible before, during, and after the meal.
The useful takeaway is that a licensing partnership gets more valuable when the IP has a clear role in the customer behavior you want to create.
Our Take: Can Fandom Drive the Second Visit?
The first thing we noticed was how Burger King gave a licensed property several jobs to do at once.
However, the six-figure setup is arguably the most important marketing mechanic in the campaign.
With each qualifying meal coming with one figurine, the promotion naturally creates a reason for fans to make additional purchases if they want the full lineup.
Furthermore, these give the customers a small piece of ownership.
You eat the nuggets, drink the lemonade, and then there is this little plastic character sitting on the table, quietly asking whether you want the other five.
It's a very old retail trick, but fandom makes it personal.
Lastly, the effort also gives social content an obvious subject: the character someone got, the character they still need, and the eventual complete collection.
Burger King is selling lunch, sure, but it is also giving collectors a reason to keep an eye on the restaurant and enjoy a new product.
Check out our top experiential marketing agencies that design campaigns to spark joy among audiences.
