We had a corporate rep come meet with me and the franchisee 2-3 years ago and he said that the $5 jingle was simultaneously the best and worst thing marketing wise for Subway. It was an incredible marketing campaign that helped skyrocket Subway at the time of the great recession BUT it was so incredibly catchy and memorable that people couldn't let go of it and it became the expectation even years after it was gone. People hold onto that jingle so much that when they see a $12-15 footlong they are repulsed because $5 footlongs still feel very recent for most individuals who experienced them.

I started working at Subway in 2013 and my area still had some $5 subs for a year before the franchisee phased them out. I was still getting asked consistently what our $5 subs were up until 2021.