Topps just put Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird in the same box as Lionel Messi, and collectors noticed fast. The Topps Chrome MLS Sesame Street cards are a five-card insert tucked inside the 2026 Topps Chrome MLS release, and they are already one of the most talked-about parts of a product that is otherwise built around Messi, Robert Lewandowski, and Antoine Griezmann. I saw the first images and immediately wanted to rip a case, which is exactly the reaction Topps was going for.
Most of the coverage so far has been a screenshot and a "wait, is that real?" caption. This guide goes deeper: the actual checklist, the real pull odds, and what these cards mean next to the rest of the set. Here is everything on the Sesame Street cards in 2026 Topps Chrome MLS: what they are, who is on the checklist, how hard they are to pull, and whether they are worth chasing.
The quick version: Sesame Street in Topps Chrome MLS
The Sesame Street insert in 2026 Topps Chrome MLS is officially called Topps x Sesame Street. It is a five-card set featuring Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, and Bert and Ernie. The cards tie into the wider MLS x Sesame Street crossover that has been running on apparel all year. They are short-printed and genuinely hard to pull, with the base version falling around 1 in 6,333 hobby packs, and each card carries a Character Color-Match parallel numbered to 5 and a one-of-one SuperFractor on top. The set was released September 10, 2026.
What are the Sesame Street cards in 2026 Topps Chrome MLS?
The Sesame Street cards are a five-card insert set called Topps x Sesame Street, seeded across 2026 Topps Chrome MLS. Each card puts a Sesame Street character on the same premium chromium stock Topps uses for the rest of the release, which is why they read as real chase cards and not a gimmick.
This is the first time Elmo and the rest of the cast have appeared inside Topps Chrome MLS, and it lands as part of a larger MLS partnership rather than a standalone stunt. Sesame Street has had its own cards over the decades, so these are not the characters' first cardboard ever, but they are their first turn inside a flagship Topps sports card product. That distinction matters, because it puts a beloved kids' brand directly into packs that adult collectors are ripping for autographs of the best players in the league.
For context on how the rest of the product is built, Topps covers the full lineup on the official Topps Chrome MLS page. The Sesame Street insert is one small slice of a checklist that runs from a 200-subject base set through Debut Patch Autographs, Renaissance Autographs, and short prints like Helix and Pearlers.
Who is on the Sesame Street MLS checklist?
The Topps x Sesame Street insert is five cards, numbered SS-1 through SS-5. Here is the full checklist:
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SS-1 Elmo
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SS-2 Cookie Monster
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SS-3 Big Bird
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SS-4 Abby Cadabby
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SS-5 Bert and Ernie
Bert and Ernie share a single card, which is a nice touch for a duo that has been inseparable since 1969. One name people expect to see and will not find here is Oscar the Grouch, who is part of the apparel side of the collaboration but did not make the five-card insert. Abby Cadabby, on the other hand, gets her own card in the set even though she is a newer addition to the Sesame Street world. If you are hunting a specific character, that is the list to work from.
How rare are the Sesame Street cards in Topps Chrome MLS?
These are genuinely tough pulls. Based on Topps' published odds, the base Topps x Sesame Street insert falls about 1 in 6,333 hobby packs. A hobby box holds 20 packs, so on average you are looking at one Sesame Street card per 317 hobby boxes.
Put a dollar figure on that, and it gets your attention. At a $119.99 hobby box, averaging one base Sesame Street card would run you somewhere around $38,000 in boxes. That is the average, not a guarantee, and the whole point of a chase card is that someone hits it early and cheap while most people never see one. Still, it frames why these are not cards you should expect to pull yourself. Most collectors who want one will end up buying the single on the secondary market rather than ripping for it.
The odds shift by format. The best per-pack odds live in Mania boxes at about 1 in 540, though a Mania box is a single pack, so that still works out to roughly one Sesame Street card per 500-plus Mania boxes. Retail packs carry the longest odds of all, near 1 in 86,520. However you slice it, the Sesame Street insert sits among the hardest pulls in the entire product, right alongside the premium autographs.
What parallels do the Sesame Street cards have?
Each Sesame Street card has two parallels stacked on top of the base version, and both are brutal to pull. The first is the Character Color-Match, numbered to just 5 copies, which pairs the character with a matching color treatment. The second is the SuperFractor, a true one-of-one.
The odds tell the story. In hobby, the Character Color-Match parallel comes in around 1 in 41,160 packs, and the SuperFractor is roughly 1 in 219,520 packs. For the SuperFractor specifically, that is one card in existence per character, so five SuperFractors total across the whole insert. If a chase within a chase is your thing, a Sesame Street SuperFractor is about as rare as anything Topps made this year that is not a Messi autograph. Understanding how a tiny numbered print run interacts with grading and population is its own rabbit hole, and it is worth reading up on what a PSA pop report actually tells you before you chase one.
How does this connect to the MLS x Sesame Street collaboration?
The cards are the trading-card chapter of a bigger MLS x Sesame Street partnership that has been live all year. The apparel side, produced through a licensing deal between Corus Entertainment's Nelvana, Peace Collective, and Major League Soccer, launched in April 2026 with T-shirts, sweaters, and jackets pairing Sesame Street characters with clubs like Inter Miami, LAFC, the Seattle Sounders, and the New York Red Bulls.
Fans nicknamed the crossover "Sesame FC," and the name stuck. You will see it used as shorthand for the whole collaboration, even though the Topps insert itself carries the Topps x Sesame Street name. The details of the apparel deal are laid out on MLSSoccer.com, and the full clothing line lives on the Peace Collective site. The cards give the partnership a collectible that adults will actually chase, which is a smart way to extend a kids' brand into a grown-up hobby. Licensing crossovers like this are becoming a real lever for card companies, the same way licensing and ownership shape which brands get to print which players.
Which box gives you the best shot at a Sesame Street card?
If you are chasing the Sesame Street insert on a per-box basis, hobby is your best bet. A hobby box packs 20 packs at 1 in 6,333 each, which works out to better per-box odds than the single-pack Mania format, even though Mania has the stronger per-pack number. Retail is the longest shot by a wide margin.
That said, "best odds" is relative when the base card is a 1-in-317-boxes proposition. Buying a box specifically to hit a Sesame Street card is a bad plan. The smarter approach, if you want one of these in your collection, is to let other people open the cases and buy the single you want once supply settles. If you are ripping anyway for the Messi and Lewandowski chase, treat a Sesame Street pull as a bonus, not the goal. For anyone weighing the rip-versus-buy question in general, the math on what a graded single actually costs after fees is worth a look.
Are the Sesame Street cards in Topps Chrome MLS worth chasing?
It depends on why you collect. If you love the crossover, want a fun card that stands out in a binder, or have a kid who lights up at Elmo, these are an easy yes as a single purchase. They are different, they are well made, and they carry a nostalgia factor that most soccer inserts do not.
As a pure investment, be more careful. Novelty and licensed-character cards can spike on release hype and then cool off once the initial rush fades, and there is no on-field performance to keep demand alive the way a rookie's breakout season would. The scarcity is real, and the SuperFractors and /5 Color-Match cards will likely hold interest because there are so few of them. The base cards are harder to call. My honest take: buy the Sesame Street card because you want to own it, not because you are betting it doubles. That is the healthiest way to approach almost any novelty insert, and it happens to be the most fun way too.
Frequently asked questions about the Topps Chrome MLS Sesame Street cards
How many Sesame Street cards are in 2026 Topps Chrome MLS?
There are five cards in the Topps x Sesame Street insert, numbered SS-1 through SS-5: Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, and Bert and Ernie.
What are the odds of pulling a Sesame Street card in Topps Chrome MLS?
The base Sesame Street insert falls about 1 in 6,333 hobby packs, which is roughly one card per 317 hobby boxes. The Character Color-Match parallel is numbered to 5, and the SuperFractor is a one-of-one.
Is there a Sesame Street SuperFractor?
Yes. Each of the five characters has a one-of-one SuperFractor, so there are five Sesame Street SuperFractors in total. In hobby, the odds are around 1 in 219,520 packs.
What is "Sesame FC"?
"Sesame FC" is the nickname fans gave the broader MLS x Sesame Street collaboration, which started with an apparel line in April 2026. The Topps trading-card insert is officially named Topps x Sesame Street.
When did the 2026 Topps Chrome MLS release?
The product released on September 10, 2026, with hobby boxes at a $119.99 suggested price and Value Blasters around $29.99.
Is Oscar the Grouch in the Sesame Street card set?
No. Oscar the Grouch appears on the apparel side of the MLS collaboration but is not one of the five characters in the Topps x Sesame Street insert.
Interested in learning more?
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Final thoughts on the Sesame Street Topps Chrome MLS cards
The Sesame Street cards are a reminder that the hobby is at its best when it is a little bit playful. Topps took a set built around the biggest names in world soccer and dropped in Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird, and the result is one of the most shareable inserts of the year. The scarcity is real, the parallels are legitimately rare, and the crossover gives the whole thing a story beyond the checklist.
If you want one, my advice is the same as it is with any chase card: know the odds, decide what the card is worth to you, and buy the single rather than gambling a case on a 1-in-317 pull. Chase it because it makes you smile, not because a spreadsheet told you to. That is the version of collecting that keeps you in the hobby for the long haul, and honestly, it is the version that made me want to rip a box the second I saw Cookie Monster on Chrome.
