IT’S ARBOR DAY, CHARLIE BROWN Soundtrack To Be Released for the First Time

Lee Mendelson Film Productions (LMFP) has announced the first-ever release of Vince Guaraldi's complete soundtrack for "It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown," the 15th animated Peanuts special.

The 34-minute album will be available March 20, 2026, on 12" 33 RPM Black or Forest Green BioVinyl LP in a Gatefold Jacket, CD, and digitally. It is available for pre-order here.

From writer and creator Charles Schulz, director Phil Roman, and producers Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson, the special originally aired fifty years ago on March 16, 1976, on CBS-TV. It went on to be nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program.

The album also includes the first-ever release of Guaraldi's soundtrack for 1966's "Charlie Brown's All Stars!," the second animated Peanuts special, a summer baseball-themed follow-up to 1965's "A Charlie Brown Christmas." It aired June 8, 1966 on CBS-TV, and was also nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Children's program. Both specials are currently available for streaming on Apple TV.

The full soundtrack album includes 24 tracks comprising the scores from both specials: 17 tracks from "Arbor Day," including two bonus alternate tracks of "Jay Sterling Morton Jazz" and "Happy Arbor Day Charlie Brown," and the "Charlie Brown's All Stars!" score mixed into 7 tracks. Both scores include "Rain, Rain, Go Away," another Guaraldi composition.

Available now is the first single from the album: "Young Man's Fancy," the core theme from "It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown." Guaraldi plays the lead melody on the electric piano and adds harmony with his piano. It marked a return to Guaraldi's traditional trio sound, but he adds and plays his ARP String Ensemble synthesizer. Listen to it below.

"Rain, Rain, Go Away (Rain, Gentle Rain)" on the "Arbor Day" album was one of the final songs Guaraldi ever recorded. Laid down on the afternoon of February 6, 1976, at Wally Heider Studio in San Francisco, he unexpectedly passed away while performing at Butterfield's in Menlo Park only a few hours later. Guaraldi was only 47. His music and legacy are preserved in the specials and in his recordings.

Across the two soundtracks, there are 24 tracks of music, all composed and performed by Vince Guaraldi. On "All Stars," Guaraldi is joined by the Vince Guaraldi Sextet: Guaraldi on piano, Eugene "Puzzy" Firth on bass, Eddie Duran on guitar, John Coppola and Frank Snow on trumpet, and Lee Charlton on drums. This was recorded at Sound Recorders in San Francisco on May 13, 1966.

Vince Guaraldi returns to his original jazz trio roots on "Arbor Day," performing with the Vince Guaraldi Trio: Guaraldi on piano, Seward McCain on bass, and Jim Zimmerman on drums. Long-time bass player Seward McCain returns to upright bass for this score. They recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco on January 28, February 3 and 6, 1976.

The soundtrack was produced by Sean Mendelson and Jason Mendelson; "Arbor Day" was mixed at WonderWorld Studio by Grammy and Emmy Award-Winning mixing engineer Clark Germain, and both "Arbor Day" and "All Stars" were restored and remastered by Vinson Hudson (who has mastered all the LMFP releases).

The physical copies include liner notes that give a track-by-track analysis by album producer Sean Mendelson, and notes from album producer Jason Mendelson, sons of Peanuts producer Lee Mendelson. Derrick Bang, Guaraldi biographer and author of "Vince Guaraldi at the Piano," continues the tradition of providing a historical essay for both the special and the soundtrack. The liner notes (vinyl: 6-page and CD: 16-page booklet) contain images from the special and rare photographs.

To help celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day, the Gatefold version of the record is made from BioVinyl sourced from used cooking oil or industrial waste gases to reduce our carbon footprint, and with sustainably forested paper in a compostable PLA bag. LMFP has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation: for every physical copy of this album purchased in 2026, LMFP will plant one tree in a forest of need with the Arbor Day Foundation, with a minimum annual support of 12,000 trees planted. Purchases of the album will not be tax-deductible.

The CDs are made with a "Digipack Lite " with eco-friendly ink, 16pt FSC certified partially recycled board stock, and a re-sealable eco-bag. Additionally, the flexi-tray that holds the CD is made from repurposed water bottles and containers, and less paper overall was used relative to a standard digipak.

About Peanuts:

Charles M. Schulz first introduced the world to Peanuts in 1950, when the comic strip debuted in seven newspapers. Since then, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang have made an indelible mark on popular culture. In addition to enjoying beloved Peanuts shows and specials on Apple TV+, fans of all ages celebrate the Peanuts brand worldwide through thousands of consumer products, as well as amusement park attractions, cultural events, social media, and comic strips available in all formats, from traditional to digital. In 2018, Peanuts partnered with NASA on a multi-year Space Act Agreement designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students.