Since its debut in 1984, the Dragon Ball franchise by Akira Toriyama has had a considerable impact on global popular culture. In 2015, the Japan Anniversary Association officially declared May 9 as "Goku Day" (Japanese: 悟空の日, Hepburn: Gokū no Hi) after the main character Son Goku; in Japanese, the numbers five and nine can be pronounced as "Go" and "Ku". It is similarly influential in international popular culture across other parts of the world. Dragon Ball is widely referenced in American popular culture, from television and music to celebrities and athletes, and the series has been celebrated with Goku making an appearance at multiple Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades, and with murals based on Dragon Ball appearing in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Kansas City, and Denver.

Dragon Ball is immensely popular in Latin America, where public screenings of the Dragon Ball Super finale in 2018 filled public spaces and stadiums in cities across the region, including stadiums holding tens of thousands of spectators. Illegal screenings of the 2018 finale even caused a diplomatic incident between Mexico and Japan. Mexico has more Dragon Ball fans than even Japan, and Goku has been referred to as "a Latino icon" due to his popularity there.

Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama was decorated a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in May 2019 for his contributions to the arts, particularly for Dragon Ball which has been credited with popularizing manga in France.

Vegeta's quote "It's Over 9000!" from an English dub of Dragon Ball Z is a popular Internet meme among the English-speaking fandom.

Dragon Ball has been cited as inspiration across various different media. It is credited with setting trends for popular shōnen manga and anime since the 1980s, with manga critic Jason Thompson in 2011 calling it "by far the most influential shōnen manga of the last 30 years." Successful shōnen manga authors such as Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Tite Kubo (Bleach), Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail) and Kentaro Yabuki (Black Cat) have cited Dragon Ball as an influence on their own now popular works. According to Thompson, "almost every Shōnen Jump artist lists it as one of their favorites and lifts from it in various ways."

French comics artist Tony Valente cited Dragon Ball as an influence, especially the adventure aspect of its early portion. Comic book artist André Lima Araújo cited Dragon Ball as a major influence on his work, which includes Marvel Comics such as Age of Ultron, Avengers A.I., Spider-Verse and The Inhumans. Filipino comic artist Dexter Soy, who has worked on comics such as Captain America, cited Dragon Ball as a major inspiration. Tony Stark: Iron Man #11 (2019) makes references to Dragon Ball Z, including Miles Morales as Spider-Man referencing the Super Saiyan transformation.

Ian Jones-Quartey, a producer of the American animated series Steven Universe, is a fan of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, and uses Toriyama's vehicle designs as a reference for his own. He also stated that "We're all big Toriyama fans on [Steven Universe], which kind of shows a bit." French director Pierre Perifel cited Toriyama and Dragon Ball as influences on his DreamWorks Animation film The Bad Guys.

In December 1990, an unofficial live-action Korean film adaptation Dragon Ball: Ssawora Son Goku, Igyeora Son Goku was released. Another unofficial live-action film adaptation of the series, Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins, was released in Taiwan in November 1991. In the Philippines, a children's musical titled Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z: Myth, Magic, Music, was staged in June 1996. Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan is a fan of the franchise, and said Goku is his favorite character. In 1995, Chan had expressed some interest in adapting Dragon Ball into a film, but said it would require "a lot of amazing special effects and an enormous budget." Later in 2013, Toriyama said his ideal live-action Goku would have been a young Jackie Chan, stating that "nobody could play Goku but him."