Pinocchio (Walt Disney) - Wheaties Cereal mask (1951) - cereal box

In 1951, General Mills’ Wheaties featured a special promotion with Walt Disney Studios: full-color cut-out masks of beloved Disney characters printed on the back panels of cereal boxes. This example showcases Pinocchio, the wooden puppet who longed to be a real boy, from Disney’s 1940 animated classic.

For children of the early 1950s, these masks provided both breakfast entertainment and hours of imaginative play. Parents would serve up Wheaties, while kids eagerly cut along the dotted lines to transform into their favorite Disney characters. Today, very few of these boxes survive intact—most were cut, discarded, or destroyed.

This piece is particularly special as it includes the flat cereal box form (missing only the top flaps), giving a fuller picture of how the promotion originally appeared on grocery store shelves. The Pinocchio mask remains a standout from the set, representing the enduring popularity of one of Disney’s most iconic characters.

Measures: 9 x 11 inches (flat, missing top flaps)
Date: 1951
Origin: Wheaties / Walt Disney promotional set

Rarity: Moderate-to-rare. While Pinocchio masks appear occasionally, complete cereal box panels are much less common than cut-outs.