Document and Entity Information (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 25, 2011	Feb. 14, 2012	Jun. 26, 2011
Document Information [Line Items]
Document Type	10-K
Amendment Flag	true
Amendment Description	As described in Papa John’s International, Inc.’s (the “Company”) Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 26, 2013 and Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2012 filed on February 28, 2013, in connection with the evaluation of the accounting for newly formed joint ventures, the Company reviewed the accounting for its previously existing joint venture arrangements. As a result of the review, the Company determined an error occurred in the accounting for one joint venture agreement, which contained a mandatorily redeemable feature added through a contract amendment in the third quarter of 2009. This provision contained in the 2009 contract amendment was not previously considered in determining the classification and measurement of the noncontrolling interest. In addition, the Company determined that an additional redeemable noncontrolling interest was incorrectly classified in shareholders’ equity and should be classified as temporary equity. As a result, the Company is filing this amendment to its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 25, 2011, to amend and restate the financial statements and other financial information contained herein to correct the errors.
Document Period End Date	Dec. 25, 2011
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2011
Document Fiscal Period Focus	FY
Trading Symbol	PZZA
Entity Registrant Name	PAPA JOHNS INTERNATIONAL INC
Entity Central Index Key	0000901491
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-25
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	Yes
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		24,242,254
Entity Public Float			$ 633,919,944