TOYOTA GAZOO RACING’S COLAB WITH MCDONALD’S RESULTS IN THE COOLEST HAPPY MEAL TOY.

McDonald’s has been around for 84 years now and as a result can be found in more countries than any other fast food restaurant. It was 45 years ago, in 1979, that the Happy Meal was created, it was a kid’s size meal that included a toy, the first of which were a McDoodle stencil, a McWrist wallet, an ID bracelet, a puzzle lock, a spinning top and a McDonaldland character-shaped eraser. Over the years there have been some really cool toys included, and some have become rather sought-after because, like all things produced in limited numbers, people love collecting them. The variety and quality of some of the toys add to their appeal, and with the sole reason behind the meal being to get kids to bug parents enough to buy them a Happy Meal, in many cases it’s the parents that do the collecting. Over the years McDonald’s has partnered up with various toy companies, movie studios and well-known brands to create the toys. This attracts people who wouldn’t normally frequent McDonald’s purely to collect the toys, marketing genius. We’ve collected a few toys from popular movies, ok, more than a few and they’re on display in the lounge, which is weird for visitors because there are no kids in the house. Being a motoring fanatic, whenever there’s anything to do with cars, we head to the local Mickey D’s. We’ve spotted some really cool cars added to the meals over the years, but this latest colab with Toyota Gazoo Racing has to be the best we’ve seen. Sadly, so far it looks like they will only roll out in Japan, but we have our fingers and toes crossed that they will make it here. As you’d expect from a company like McDonald’s, they chucked a huge amount of money into promoting the new toys by creating a video of the real-life cars that the toys are based on. To make it cooler, they chucked in drifting and a pair of well-known drivers.

Toyota and Gazoo Racing’s colab with McDonald’s results in the coolest Happy Meal toy. They will include a special edition GR Corolla, something that will be hugely popular. The video created to promote the new addition is called Drift Twins, and as the name suggests it contains some action-packed drifting in a pair of GR cars, a GR 86 and of course, the GR Corolla. A high-profile video means nothing without high-profile stars, and the Drift Twins is made up of two hugely popular drivers - Finland’s Kalle Rovanperä and Japan’s Ken Gushi. Rovanperä is a professional rally driver who joined the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team in 2020. One claim to fame was winning his first WRC event at Rally Estonia as the youngest driver ever. In 2022 he was crowned WRC Champion, again the youngest in the series’ history at 22 years and one day, and in 2023, he racked up three wins during the season and won the drivers' title for the second consecutive year at the 12th round of the Central European Rally - yup, still the youngest driver to do so. All races were in a GR Yaris. Ken Gushi has driven himself to much success, at the age of 16 he became the youngest participant in both the Japanese D1 Grand Prix and the US Formula Drifting Championship. He’s regarded by many as being at the top of the game right now, and for the 2024 drift season, you can see him decimate the competition at the hands of a new GR 86 in Formula Drift and with a Lexus IS500 F Sport Performance in Formula Drift Japan. There’s been some genius marketing here, the people who earn the big bucks have covered all the bases and this should result in a sought-after McDonald’s toy that will end up in the hands of kids and collectors around the world, even if they end up being for the JDM only.

Take a look at the YouTube video that was created to promote the new colab between Toyota Gazoo Racing and McDonalds to promote a new Happy Meal toy. It's an amazing production featuring two brilliant drivers in a pair of GR Toyotas. If this toy ever made it to SA, I know plenty people who would buy loads of Happy Meals even though they have no kids: DRIFT Twins - KALLE ROVANPERÄ & KEN GUSHI -【GR x McDonald’s | Toyota Gazoo Racing

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