diff --git a/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/tabs/TabStripItemAnimator.java b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/tabs/TabStripItemAnimator.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a16ffa2d5d2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/tabs/TabStripItemAnimator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/* -*- Mode: Java; c-basic-offset: 4; tab-width: 20; indent-tabs-mode: nil; -*-
+/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+ * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this file,
+ * You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */
+
+package org.mozilla.gecko.tabs;
+
+import org.mozilla.gecko.widget.DefaultItemAnimatorBase;
+
+import android.support.v4.view.ViewCompat;
+import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
+import android.view.View;
+
+class TabStripItemAnimator extends DefaultItemAnimatorBase {
+    public TabStripItemAnimator(int animationDuration) {
+        setAddDuration(animationDuration);
+        setSupportsChangeAnimations(false);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected boolean preAnimateRemoveImpl(final RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected boolean preAnimateAddImpl(final RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder) {
+        resetAnimation(holder);
+        final View view = holder.itemView;
+        view.setTranslationY(view.getHeight());
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void animateAddImpl(final RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder) {
+        ViewCompat.animate(holder.itemView)
+                .setDuration(getAddDuration())
+                .setListener(new DefaultAddVpaListener(holder))
+                .translationY(0)
+                .start();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void resetViewProperties(View view) {
+        view.setTranslationX(0);
+        view.setTranslationY(0);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/tabs/TabStripView.java b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/tabs/TabStripView.java
index 5fa19cfd83ec..afabf67fd28f 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/tabs/TabStripView.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/tabs/TabStripView.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public class TabStripView extends RecyclerView {
         layoutManager.setOrientation(LinearLayoutManager.HORIZONTAL);
         setLayoutManager(layoutManager);
 
-        // TODO add item animator.
+        setItemAnimator(new TabStripItemAnimator(ANIM_TIME_MS));
 
         // TODO add item decoration.
     }
@@ -148,7 +148,6 @@ public class TabStripView extends RecyclerView {
         // Make sure we didn't miss any resets after animations etc.
         child.setTranslationX(0);
         child.setTranslationY(0);
-        child.setAlpha(1);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/mobile/android/base/moz.build b/mobile/android/base/moz.build
index 5267f375ad38..f8e391bd98ba 100644
--- a/mobile/android/base/moz.build
+++ b/mobile/android/base/moz.build
@@ -855,6 +855,7 @@ if max_sdk_version >= 11:
     gbjar.sources += ['java/org/mozilla/gecko/' + x for x in [
         'tabs/TabStrip.java',
         'tabs/TabStripAdapter.java',
+        'tabs/TabStripItemAnimator.java',
         'tabs/TabStripItemView.java',
         'tabs/TabStripView.java'
     ]]