About

Chicken Stars refers to a series of video edit memes, started by the TikTok Niche Community, which use a scene from the animated film Leo in which the character Cole is seen eating star-shaped chicken nuggets, called "chicken stars" in the accompanying soundtrack song, "Last Year." The Chicken Stars scene became an exploitable video element in October 2025, starting on TikTok and spreading to other platforms like Instagram via Reels in the following days. Chicken Stars memes are largely characterized by over-edited visuals and soundbites, often run through CapCut with different effects and filters, similar to other brainrot memes.

Origin

On November 21st, 2023, the animated film Leo was released on Netflix for streaming. The film centers on a class pet lizard named Leo, voiced by Adam Sandler, trying to escape the classroom.^[1]

The film features multiple musical numbers, including a song called "Last Year."^[3] The second verse in the song features the character Cole, who sings, "I'm gonna go out swingin'! Toy soldiers, Dipping Dots, fun-sized bars, slip-and-slides, fart noises, chicken stars, until they tell me to stop!"^[2]

The song's scene went viral when it was reposted by TikToker^[4] @bluepineapplefilm on December 7th, 2023, gaining over 38,900 likes in two years.

On September 27th, 2025, TikToker^[5] @liywafhd posted the scene, gaining over 56,200 likes in nine days.

On September 29th, 2025, TikToker @animalcompany88 shared a video that they later deleted, which added text overlay to the video, reading, "New niche meme." The video received over 16,100 likes in a week before the user deleted it.^[6][7]

Spread

On October 5th, 2025, TikToker^[8] @nich.memes.lol shared a video that was similar to the original because it added a text overlay caption that called Chicken Stars a "niche meme." It also added multiple flame explosion effects from CapCut, similar to the Eye of Rah meme. The video received over 405,700 likes in a day.

Also on October 5th, TikToker^[9] @dinglapupop shared a Kirk Franklin Eating an Apple meme with a text overlay caption that read, "How it feels to be on Chicken Stars when my class is still on I'm a Dude Man." The video received over 60,600 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References