Fast food advertising doesn’t usually make you emotional. Panda Express clearly missed that memo — and thank goodness they did.
For Lunar New Year, the brand unveiled Wishes, a handcrafted animated short that feels less like a commercial and more like a small, glowing piece of storytelling. It’s hand-drawn, deeply human, and unapologetically sentimental in the best way. This isn’t about pushing orange chicken. It’s about family, tradition, and the quiet ache of wanting everyone you love in the same room.
Set against the lantern-lit streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown, the film follows a young girl whose simple wish is to have her family together for the holiday. When her doctor father is called away on an emergency, the story floats into something gently magical — lanterns rise, imagination takes over, and love becomes the thing that carries the narrative forward.
What makes Wishes stand out isn’t just the story — it’s the craft. The animation is entirely hand-drawn 2D, with subtle depth and texture that makes every frame feel touched by human hands. In a year where AI shortcuts are everywhere, Panda Express and its partners leaned the opposite way: slower, softer, more intentional. You can feel the care in the pacing, the color, and the tiny background moments that reward repeat viewing.
The campaign was created by Opinionated (now part of Tombras) in collaboration with the three-time Academy Award-winning animation studio Passion Pictures. It’s a partnership that shows. Opinionated brings emotional clarity and cultural sensitivity, while Passion Pictures delivers world-class animation that elevates the story into something genuinely cinematic.
This also marks a tonal evolution for Panda Express. Their recent Lunar New Year work has leaned into humor and larger-than-life auntie energy. Wishes goes quieter. It trusts restraint. It understands that sometimes the most powerful brand move is simply to step back and let a story breathe.
Of course, food is still the emotional glue. Meals become expressions of care. The unspoken message lands gently but clearly: showing up matters, and when you can’t, love still finds a way.
In a Super Bowl-sized ad world full of shouting, Panda Express chose to whisper. And somehow, that whisper feels louder than most.
Turns out the warmest thing on the menu was the story. — Julian Vega
