Season 5 · Episode 9 · First aired 28 January 2007

Road to Rupert

Episode 9 of Family Guy season 5 (S05E09), the 89th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Dan Povenmire. First broadcast on 28 January 2007.

Story

At a family yard sale Brian accidentally sells Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert. He admits it, and the two trace the buyer through DNA on the note Brian was paid with. The house is empty, so they follow the removal van as far as the Connecticut line, where Mayor West refuses to drive any further. A box dropped from the van gives the new address in Aspen. After a hired helicopter crashes, the pair reach Colorado, where Stanford Cordray agrees to hand the bear back only if Stewie wins a ski race. Stewie loses, has the bear knocked out of Cordray's son's hands and drives home with Brian in a car taken at gunpoint. Meanwhile Peter loses his licence over a failed stunt jump and Meg becomes his driver, and the two end up as secret best friends.

Production and reception

Nielsen figures put the first broadcast at 8.8 million homes, with a 3.1 rating among viewers aged 18 to 49, ahead of both The Simpsons and American Dad!. Wikipedia, Road to Rupert
This was the third and last of the Road to episodes directed by Dan Povenmire, who left to create Phineas and Ferb with Jeff Marsh. Wikipedia, Road to Rupert
A sequence of Stewie and Brian crossing several states, with much of the Midwest drawn as identical corn fields, was cut for timing and kept for the DVD. Seth MacFarlane based it on driving across the country after September 2001. Wikipedia, Road to Rupert
Stewie's dance number uses footage from the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh, and the reflection of the cartoon mouse it replaced can still be made out on the floor. Wikipedia, Road to Rupert
Povenmire had written the camping song heard in the car for SpongeBob SquarePants, and Nickelodeon gave permission for it to be reused here. Wikipedia, Road to Rupert

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin, Sharon Stone
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Mike Henry	Cleveland Brown, John Herbert
Max Burkholder	Little Boy
Phil LaMarr	Tourist at Gettysburg
Rob Lowe	Stanford Cordray
Ted McGinley	Helicopter Rental Agent
Chris Sheridan	Scared Driver

Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.

Guest voices

Max Burkholder as Timmy Cordray
Phil LaMarr as Black Guy in Gettysburg
Rob Lowe as Stanford Cordray, Stanford
Ted McGinley as Helicopter Rental Agent
Stephen Stanton
Connor Trinneer as Victim of Sharon Stone
Audrey Wasilewski
George Wendt as Norm Peterson
Dave Wittenberg as Woody Boyd
Gene Kelly (archive footage) as Joseph "Joe" Brady
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
Adam West as Mayor Adam West
Mike Henry as Herbert
Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants
Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star

Season 5: episode 9 of 18

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 18 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 5 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Road to Rupert
Wikidata Q524131
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
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Licence: Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
Note: The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.