This week, I bought an ‘adult happy meal’ from McDonalds in order to bag one of the Friends collectibles.
The US TV show was obviously a huge 90s hit and I’ve got Phoebe in my box (the box reveals which of the six characters you’ve landed from the outside).
It is sealed with McDonalds tape and I’m seeing them sell pretty well on eBay, and it would probably be enough to cover the cost of my £8.59 meal.
But my question is: shall I keep hold of it in pristine, sealed condition? Do McDonalds happy meal toys ever become valuable?
The one with toys: McDonalds is giving away Friends figures with its new adult happy meals
Dan Hatfield, This is Money’s expert valuer, says: You know McDonald’s certainly knows how to harness a zeitgeist or two.
The fast food chain does have its finger on the pulse when it comes to trends, sometimes before the rest of us have even realised a pulse exists.
This is the first time McDonald’s has made such an overt attempt to lure adults back to the counter with a happy meal. Children, it seems, are no longer enough.
Now they want the grown ups too. those of us with contactless cards, creaking knees, and a willingness to spend £8.59 purely for the thrill of a small plastic toy.
And I must say, it is extremely clever.
Because what McDonald’s is tapping into is not just clever marketing, it is the unstoppable, money making juggernaut that is nostalgia.
Never in modern history have we so collectively longed for the past. It is no longer a gentle fondness, it is an economic force.
As the world speeds up, as AI’s long metallic tentacles wrap themselves around every aspect of our lives, as trends arrive and disappear faster than you can say ‘limited edition,’ one constant remains helps us feel grounded, safe: nostalgia.
It has become society’s comfort blanket, something soft to wrap around ourselves in uncertain times.
When everything feels relentlessly new, complicated and faintly unsettling, the past offers familiarity.
To the untrained eye, you might see this promotion as nothing more than a clever attempt to boost footfall.
I see something slightly more sophisticated.
McDonald’s isn’t just selling burgers, it is selling emotional reassurance in a cardboard box.
Because sitting inside these adult happy meals are six television characters from a gentler, pre-smartphone age, reminding us that life once revolved around coffee shops rather than group chats, and that our biggest weekly dilemma was whether Ross and Rachel were, or were not, on a break.
The strategy is disarmingly simple, transport people back to a time when their biggest financial commitment was a Blockbuster late fee, phones, literally just worked as phones and the internet was only just rearing its head.
Help people to remember those simpler, carefree times. Transport them back to the 90s.
And judging by the number of fully grown adults hovering near the counter when I ordered mine, it is working beautifully. Yes I did go and buy one, purely in the name of research.
Inside my sealed box sat a Joey, still protected by McDonald’s tape. I felt an entirely irrational flicker of excitement taking it home, the same thrill I remember from my childhood when a happy meal toy felt like utter treasure.
But once the nostalgic glow faded, the valuer in me took over.
Because whenever something like this captures the public imagination, one question inevitably follows:
Should you open it or could keeping it sealed make it valuable one day? Past results where McDonalds toys are concerned tell us to keep the toys sealed.
Sealed: If you get your hands on one, is it worth keeping it sealed – could it grow in value?
Take the 1997 Teenie Beanie Babies, unopened sets have been known to fetch hundreds when collector demand spikes.
Certain Furby releases from the late 1990s still command strong prices when found in pristine condition.
Even some Disney promotions, made in vast numbers, can surpass expectations when complete runs surface decades later.
Mass produced does not automatically mean worthless, however as seasoned nostalgia hunters, the generation that this toy appeals to will know that condition is key.
Many of us purchasing these happy meals will be keeping our little Joeys sealed up in the hope that he becomes a little pension pot in the future.
True collectables are rarely the ones everyone plans to save. Scarcity is what drives value, and scarcity usually happens by accident.
The common thread is not clever branding, it’s survival. In our childhood parents cleared out toy boxes without a second thought.
Today, however, thousands of investment savvy adults are already sliding these Friends boxes into cupboards believing they have spotted tomorrow’s treasure.
And therein lies the irony, If everyone keeps one, rarity becomes rather difficult.
So is my Joey or your Pheobe figurine likely to fund our retirements? Almost certainly not. As you have mentioned, on resell sites they are currently doing well. Some toys are trading at £10 to £15, almost double the cost of the meal itself.
This is a short-term situation. Everyone wants all of the friends in their collection. In the future I expect these to be, unfortunately, worth very little. The reason why?
Too many produced and too many of us aware of how to store the items to hopefully maximise value in the future.
We are all too savvy for our own good. Plus you don’t get a second bite of the cherry.
I doubt we will be nostalgic about a toy that was created to feed our nostalgic appetite. The scratch has been itched.
Not everything we collect has to potentially be worth money in the future. Some items earn their place in our homes simply because they make us smile.
So no, I’m not expecting my little Joey and the gang to bankroll my future, but I will absolutely be collecting the full set.
After all, in a world that feels increasingly unpredictable, there is something rather comforting about surrounding yourself with old Friends.
Because when it comes to nostalgia like this, I’ll be there for them, even if the profits aren’t there for me.