I Always Come Back (FNAF) — Burnt FNAF animatronic with glowing eyes and caption 'I always come back'

I Always Come Back (FNAF)

2015catchphraseclassic

Published October 17, 2026

I Always Come Back is a Five Nights at Freddy's catchphrase spoken by the series antagonist Springtrap, aka William Afton, referencing his habit of surviving death across the game's lore. A version first appeared in the 2015 FNAF 3 trailer and the exact line was voiced in 2017's Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, feeding years of fan animations before the 2023 FNAF film sent clips of actor Matthew Lillard delivering it viral on TikTok.

fnaf memes catchphrase memes villain memes horror memes fan art memes

Overview

I Always Come Back is a line of dialogue tied to the rotting rabbit animatronic Springtrap, also called Scraptrap, who houses the soul of franchise villain William Afton. In FNAF lore the character is burned, dismembered and destroyed across multiple games, only to return in a worse state each time, which is what the line directly points at 1. Fans turned the quote into a recurring punchline for any post that treats Afton as unkillable.

Most edits set a clip of Springtrap saying the line against a montage of his many on-screen deaths, or splice the audio into unrelated horror footage so a random villain seems to pop back up. Spanish-language TikTok users lip-dubbed the compilation audio over selfie reaction videos, while YouTube animators used it as the climax of melodramatic Afton confrontations 2.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (FNAF 3 trailer) / Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator
Creator
Scott Cawthon; meme popularized by fan animators
Date
2015

On January 26th, 2015, series creator Scott Cawthon uploaded the trailer for Five Nights at Freddy's 3 to YouTube, where captions read 'He will come back' and 'he always does' over footage of the newly introduced Springtrap. The trailer passed 32 million views and seeded the earliest batch of memes about Afton being impossible to kill 3.

The exact phrasing arrived with Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, released December 4th, 2017, in which the character, now rebuilt as Scraptrap, delivers the voiced line 'I always come back' 1. On December 17th, 2017, YouTuber Father posted a compilation of the game's voice lines that drew more than 247,000 views and gave animators a clean audio source to work from 2.

How It Spread

Fan animators carried the line through the late 2010s. On March 7th, 2018, YouTuber Dafne TheWeebGaming posted an animation built around the quote that passed 114,000 views 4, and on July 19th that year Raidiater's animation using the same audio reached over 4.2 million views 5. On March 22nd, 2021, Jaze Cinema uploaded another Afton animation set to the line that crossed 2 million views 6.

The phrase moved onto image-based platforms through fan art. On May 1st, 2020, Redditor u/Tiger_Torme posted a drawing to r/fivenightsatfreddys that redrew the Grant Gustin Next To Oliver Queen's Grave meme with Springtrap in Gustin's spot, captioning it 'He always come back!' and collecting more than 2,300 upvotes 1. TikTok picked it up on October 31st, 2022, when @zenspeedx shared a compilation using the voice line as original audio; according to KYM the sound was used over 6,400 times within a year, especially by Spanish-speaking users dubbing it over selfies 1.

The 2023 Blumhouse film adaptation gave the line a mainstream second life. On March 29th, 2023, Matthew Lillard, who plays William Afton in the movie, posted an Instagram selfie captioned 'I always come back. #FNAF #williamafton #purple #finishstrong,' pulling over 353,000 likes 7. After the film's late October release, viewers leaked the scene online; a clip posted by TikToker @koomii.i on October 26th, 2023 drew over 140,000 views in a single day 8.

Timeline

2015-01-26

Scott Cawthon uploads the FNAF 3 trailer with the captions 'He will come back' and 'he always does.'

2017-12-04

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator releases, featuring Scraptrap voicing the exact line 'I always come back.'

2017-12-17

YouTuber Father posts a Pizzeria Simulator voice line compilation that passes 247,000 views.

2018-07-19

Animator Raidiater uploads an Afton animation using the line, later passing 4.2 million views.

2020-05-01

U/Tiger_Torme posts a Springtrap redraw of the Grant Gustin/Oliver Queen grave meme to r/fivenightsatfreddys.

2022-10-31

TikToker @zenspeedx shares a compilation whose audio spawns thousands of lip-dub videos.

2023-03-29

Matthew Lillard posts an Instagram selfie captioned 'I always come back' ahead of the FNAF film.

2023-10-26

Leaked clips of Lillard delivering the line in the FNAF movie spread across TikTok.

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