Leases - Future Minimum Lease Payments, Lessor Operating Leases, and Lease Guarantees (Details) $ in Millions	9 Months Ended
Sep. 26, 2021 USD ($) restaurant lease	Sep. 27, 2020 USD ($)
Leases
sublease income	$ 9.0	$ 7.6
Number of domestic leases for which the Company is contingently liable \| lease	71
Estimated maximum amount of undiscounted payments in the event of nonpayment by primary lessees	$ 12.1
United Kingdom franchise-owned restaurants
Leases
Number of units leased and subleased \| restaurant	410
Initial lease terms on franchised sites	15 years

The total contingent liability assumed in the sale of a business.

No definition available.

Name:	pzza_ContingentLiabilityAssumedInSaleOfBusiness
Namespace Prefix:	pzza_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The number of leases for which the Company is contingently liable.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	pzza_ContingentLiabilityNumberOfLeases
Namespace Prefix:	pzza_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of units leased as lessor.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	pzza_LessorOperatingLeasesNumberOfUnits
Namespace Prefix:	pzza_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LesseeLeaseDescriptionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Term of lessor's operating lease, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121576215&loc=SL77919359-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorOperatingLeaseTermOfContract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of sublease income excluding finance and operating lease expense.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (e)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121609121&loc=SL77918686-209980

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 55
-Paragraph 53
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121568110&loc=SL77918982-209971

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SubleaseIncome
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=pzza_InternationalFranchiseeOwnedRestaurantsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: