Barney Invades Toonami in Hilarious Cartoon Network Mix-Up

It turns out Barney invaded Toonami in a hilarious broadcast mishap during the latest airing on Adult Swim’s famous anime block. Toonami has kicked off the new year with a new schedule adding a major classic to the block for the first time in over two decades, and fans were already glued to their screens. But it turns out that fans were in for much more than anime with the latest edition of Toonami as Barney’s World made a surprising appearance much later than it usually would air on Cartoon Network. So it was a very hilarious and unexpected crossover for the children’s entertainment giant.

As spotted by @samster299 on X, a surprising promo for the now airing Barney’s World on Cartoon Network made its very clashing debut during the latest broadcast of Mashle: Magic and Muscles on Toonami. It’s a totally wild contrast between the content of the two franchises, and it was only a brief promo spot that managed to make it through before everything returned to normal. Thankfully, it’s far from a serious issue with Adult Swim’s Toonami programming block and was just a hilarious and unexpected surprise. Check it out in action below.

Toonami Schedule for Winter 2025

As for the anime shows that are actually supposed to be airing as part of Adult Swim’s Toonami block, the schedule for Saturday nights as of Saturday, January 25th breaks down as such (in EST):

• 12:00AM – Mashle: Magic and Muscles
• 12:30AM – Invincible Fight Girl
• 1:00AM – Blue Exorcist
• 1:30AM – One Piece
• 2:00AM – Dragon Ball Z Kai
• 2:30AM – Naruto
• 3:00AM – Sailor Moon

Toonami just underwent a change as of this weekend with the addition of Sailor Moon to the block. This was the first time in over two decades that Sailor Moon has been offered on Toonami itself, and even has the uncut version from Viz Media to boot. This was following Sailor Moon‘s return to Adult Swim as part of the now defunct Toonami Rewind block. This was a short lived block of classic anime shows that aired some afternoons, but has since shutdown following more changes to Adult Swim and Cartoon Network’s schedule. So now it’s living on through the main Toonami schedule itself instead.

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What’s Next for Toonami in 2025?

As Toonami continues throughout the new year, there are still some big things coming to the block in 2025 and beyond. While there are likely tons of new additions that have yet to be announced as of the time of this publication, there are also lots of returns also in the works as well such as My Adventures with Superman (which is now in the works for Season 3). As for what has been announced, the first to look forward to is a brand new anime series from Cowboy Bebop, Carole & Tuesday and more creator Shinichiro Watanabe. Titled Lazarus, fans won’t actually be waiting much longer for the new series.

A recent update has revealed that Lazarus is currently in the works for a release later this April. A concrete release date has yet to be announced as of the time of this publication, but Lazarus will also feature John Wick director Chad Stahelski designing action sequences, and Sola Entertainment producing. It’s yet to be revealed how long Lazarus will be sticking around for when it premieres, but with its Spring premiere fast approaching, fans will get to see even more of what this new original anime project has to offer soon enough. Though Barney’s World probably won’t be involved.