The special, produced as part of the show's twelfth season, originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on July 12, 2019, celebrating the series' twentieth anniversary.

[3][4][5] The television series follows the adventures of SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by Tom Kenny) in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom.

In the special, the citizens of Bikini Bottom plan a surprise birthday party for SpongeBob, while he and Patrick Star (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) tour the surface world and come across their real-life selves.

In Encino, California, Patchy the Pirate attempts to get to Bikini Bottom to give SpongeBob SquarePants his birthday present.

In Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob discovers his destroyed house and thanks everyone for celebrating his birthday, when a Box falls out of the sky.

The three-network premiere was collectively viewed by 2.2 million people in the United States, and it posted year-to-year gains for the network across multiple demographics, most notably, kids ages 2–11 (3.3/797K, +57%).