50 free Barney & Friends trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Barney & Friends began as a mother's fix for a bored toddler. Sheryl Leach could not find a video that held her two-year-old's attention, so she built one around a huggable dinosaur, sold the tapes direct to families as Barney & the Backyard Gang, and watched a Connecticut Public Television executive's daughter turn the thing into a PBS phenomenon in 1992. The purple T. rex went on to sell half a billion dollars of merchandise in a single year, get beaten up by Charles Barkley on Saturday Night Live, and inspire a three-part Peacock documentary about why so many adults hated him. These 50 questions span the whole franchise: the dinosaurs and their favourite foods, the voice and costume performers, the future Disney stars who grew up on set, the Radio City premiere of Barney's Great Adventure, the Sega Genesis game, the Universal Studios show and the 2024 animated relaunch. Easy questions stick to Baby Bop's blanket and BJ's pickles; the expert tier asks about lyric royalties, puppet performers and the Backyard Gang's seed money. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who created Barney & Friends?
Sheryl Leach
Leach, a former teacher from Dallas, had the idea after noticing her toddler son had outgrown his Wee Sing tapes.
Q 02Which network originally aired Barney & Friends from 1992 to 2010?
PBS
It ran inside the PBS Kids block for 18 years, with reruns later moving to Sprout and Universal Kids.
Q 03What kind of dinosaur is Barney?
Tyrannosaurus rex
Despite being a carnivore species, Barney has no fearsome teeth and prefers peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Q 04Barney's closing song "I Love You" borrows the tune of which folk song?
This Old Man
The lyrics were written in 1982 by Indiana homemaker Lee Bernstein, who later won writing credit and royalties.
Q 05Barney's own theme, "Barney is a Dinosaur", is set to which tune?
Yankee Doodle
Barney's other catchphrase is that things are "Super dee-duper".
Q 06Baby Bop is what kind of dinosaur?
Triceratops
She debuted in the 1991 video Barney in Concert and turned three in the episode "Look at Me, I'm 3!".
Q 07BJ, Baby Bop's older brother, is what kind of dinosaur?
Protoceratops
The seven-year-old joined the show in September 1993 and calls his sister "sissy".
Q 08Riff, who joined in 2006, is what kind of dinosaur?
Hadrosaur
Riff is Baby Bop and BJ's music-obsessed cousin; his theme is "I Hear Music Everywhere".
Q 09Who was the voice of Barney from 1988 to 2000?
Bob West
West retired from the role in 2001 after 13 years, saying he wanted "new challenges".
Q 10What colour is Baby Bop's beloved security blanket?
Yellow
She sings "My Yellow Blankey" about it, and it saves the magic egg at the climax of Barney's Great Adventure.
Q 11What is BJ's favourite food?
Pickles
He has eaten them in various ways, including on pizza.
Q 12What is Barney's favourite meal?
Peanut butter and jelly
He washes it down with a glass of milk; Baby Bop prefers macaroni and cheese.
Q 13Which NBA star beat up Barney in a Saturday Night Live sketch?
Charles Barkley
The SNL beating became one of the most-cited examples of the 1990s anti-Barney backlash.
Q 14The purple dinosaur first appeared in which 1988 direct-to-video series?
Q 21Where did Barney's Great Adventure hold its world premiere?
Radio City Music Hall
Barney had played twelve sold-out concerts on the same stage four years earlier.
Q 22Who directed Barney's Great Adventure?
Steve Gomer
Gomer had no interest in the TV series but wanted to make the film, and pushed to shoot in Montreal to save money.
Q 23In Barney's Great Adventure, what is the name of the koala-like creature that hatches from the egg?
Twinken
Twinken is a "Dreammaker", a being said to fall from the sky in an egg once every 1,000 years.
Barney & the Backyard Gang
Only eight videos were made before the TV series launched, and just four of the kids carried over.
Q 15Which actress played Michael and Amy's mother in the first three Barney videos?
Sandy Duncan
Duncan was starring on the NBC sitcom The Hogan Family at the time; Thomas and Rashad were considered for the part.
Q 16Which CPTV executive rented a Barney tape for his daughter, then pitched the show to PBS?
Larry Rifkin
Rifkin rented A Day at the Beach on Super Bowl Sunday 1991 and thought Barney was less neurotic than Big Bird.
Q 17The 2024 animated relaunch Barney's World premiered on which Cartoon Network block?
Cartoonito
It premiered on Cartoonito on October 18, 2024, four days after it began streaming on Max.
Q 18Barney's World is co-produced with which Canadian animation studio?
Nelvana
Nelvana is owned by Corus Entertainment; the show also airs on Treehouse TV in Canada.
Q 19Which toy company announced the 2023 relaunch of the Barney franchise?
Mattel
The relaunch was seen as part of Mattel's wider revival trend alongside Monster High and Masters of the Universe.
Q 20In what year was the theatrical film Barney's Great Adventure released?
1998
It remains the only theatrical Barney film; every other Barney movie went direct to video.
Q 24Which company distributed Barney's Great Adventure in cinemas?
PolyGram
The film had been set up at Geffen and Warner Bros. for a 1995 release before PolyGram took the rights.
Q 25Near which city was Barney's Great Adventure filmed?
Montreal
Locations included the Morgan Arboretum wildlife sanctuary in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
Q 26What was the budget of Barney's Great Adventure?
$15 million
It grossed about $12 million domestically and was widely called a box-office bomb.
Q 27Which future pop star played Gianna on Barney & Friends in seasons 7–8?
Selena Gomez
Gomez and Demi Lovato met as child actors on the Barney set in Texas.
Q 28Demi Lovato played which character on Barney & Friends?
Angela
Lovato appeared in seasons 7 and 8; Madison Pettis and Debby Ryan came later in season 10.
Q 29With which TV host did Demi Lovato perform a heavy metal cover of the Barney song in 2008?
Jimmy Fallon
The song has also been used by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to wear down detainees.
Q 30For several years Barney & Friends was taped in which Texas town?
Allen
Production later moved to Las Colinas in Irving and then Carrollton, both Dallas suburbs.