OAK BROOK, Ill., Nov. 19 -- McDonald's and Toys 'R' Us are inviting customers to take a walk down "Animal Alley" this holiday season and celebrate the introduction of a new one-of-a-kind Happy Meal.

The McDonald's in-store promotion will be available in participating restaurants nationwide from November 30 through December 27, 2001. The Happy Meal will showcase eight cute and cuddly mini plush toys. In selected Happy Meals, consumers also will receive more than $100 worth of Toys 'R' Us coupons in the official Toys 'R' Us "Mini Big Toy Book." This catalog -- available only at McDonald's for a limited time -- is a miniature version of the holiday savings catalog that Toys 'R' Us distributes every year.

"Through our partnership with Toys 'R' Us, we believe McDonald's has a little something for everyone this holiday season," said Karlin Linhardt, senior director of youth marketing at McDonald's. "We're thrilled to offer our youngest customers miniature plush versions of the incredibly popular Animal Alley characters, and we believe that parents will appreciate the savings from the coupon booklet."

"We see the Toys 'R' Us and McDonald's partnership as a marriage between two great brands for kids and families," said Warren Kornblum, executive vice president, worldwide marketing and brand management at Toys 'R' Us. "The Animal Alley Happy Meal promotion provides us with a great opportunity to get one of our key brands into the hands of millions of kids nationwide this holiday season."

McDonald's "Animal Alley" Happy Meal toys are miniature versions of the Toys 'R' Us plush line, featuring animal favorites from the depths of the jungle to familiar backyard friends. Each animal comes with its own nametag and descriptive poem. The "Animal Alley" pals are Darby the dog, Darla the unicorn, Jessie the yellow lab, Sable the tiger, Cole the black bear, Hopkins the frog, Lickerish the black lab and Riggsley the lion. One toy is included with each Happy Meal purchase at participating McDonald's restaurants, while supplies last.

For a limited time, McDonald's customers also will receive a free holiday picture frame ornament featuring Hughbert -- one of the "Animal Alley" characters -- with the purchase of $10 of McDonald's gift certificates.

In addition to this exciting Happy Meal, McDonald's New Tastes Menu(TM) offers customers great tasting food choices such as the Chili Cheese McDouble�, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and Ranchero Bagel.

McDonald's is the world's leading foodservice retailer with more than 29,000 restaurants serving 45 million customers each day in 121 countries. Approximately 80 percent of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and women.

Toys 'R' Us -- The world's leading resource for kids, families and fun currently operates 1,599 stores; 703 toy stores in the United States, 504 international toy stores, including franchise stores, 185 Kids 'R' Us children's clothing stores, 159 Babies 'R' Us stores and 48 Imaginarium stores. Toysrus.com sells merchandise on its Internet sites at http://www.toysrus.com, http://www.babiesrus.com and http://www.imaginarium.com.