McDonald's has relaunched its $5 and $8 Extra Value Meal bundles across the U.S. as a centerpiece of its 2026 traffic recovery strategy. The program offers eight curated meal combinations for breakfast, lunch and dinner, delivering an average savings of 15% compared with purchasing each item à la carte. Executives forecast that the initiative will help reverse a two-year decline in customer visits, targeting a 2% lift in U.S. same-store traffic by mid-year. This push follows successful regional trials that saw comparable-store transactions rise by 3.1% and basket size increase by 4.7%.

To bolster in-restaurant footfall and digital engagement, McDonald’s has reintroduced its iconic Changeables Happy Meal toys for a limited run. The 16 transforming figures, originally launched between 1987 and 1990, have been updated with modern articulation and fresh color schemes. According to McDonald’s senior marketing director, social media demand for Changeables peaked at over 250,000 mentions since July, prompting the revival. Early in-store reports indicate a 12% uptick in Happy Meal transactions in test markets, with digital scans of toy QR codes generating nearly 500,000 loyalty app downloads in the first week.

Analysts at Jefferies expect McDonald’s to deliver fourth-quarter results in line with consensus, projecting U.S. same-store sales growth of 4.5% and earnings per share of approximately $3.00. The firm highlights the Extra Value Meals and Changeables campaign as key drivers of market share gains in the U.S., offsetting pressure from inflation on input costs. Jefferies notes that McDonald’s global franchised footprint, which contributes nearly 75% of system-wide sales, should help maintain operating margins above 40% even as wage and commodity expenses rise.