Back in 2000 Disney had to rush to make The Emperor’s New Groove‘s release date because they couldn’t break a contract with McDonald’s:
Allers: When they went with Mark’s version, the one thing they didn’t do was change the release date. So the Kingdom of the Sun release date became The Emperor’s New Groove release date.
Fullmer: We had a year, literally, to put that whole thing together. There’s a deadline because we got a McDonald’s Happy Meal that has to come on a certain date, and there are big fines to pay if you don’t do that.
Nowadays they just release Happy Meal toys for movies that won’t come out for another year.