The out-of-plane compressive behavior of honeycomb paperboard filled with polyurethane (HPFP) was experimentally studied to clarify the effect of the dimension of honeycomb cell, relative density of filling foam, filling format and compression rate on the initial peak stress, plateau stress and absorbed energy of HPFP. The results show that: the initial peak stress and plateau stress of HPFP was decreased significantly when the cell-length was increasing; plateau stress and energy absorption properties of HPFP filled with lower relative density foam were superior to that of HPFP filled with higher relative density foam; honeycomb paperboard filled with foams, whether filled totally or partially, will exhibit excellent compressive properties and energy absorption performance than those without any fillings. Foams filled in honeycomb cell can decrease the initial peak stress and increase plateau stress, thus improve the cushioning performance significantly; the effect of loading rate is insignificant to the compressive properties of HPFP between 2 mm/min-50 mm/min. Those results can offer a useful reference for rationally use and multi-objective optimization of honeycomb paperboard.