The work aims to carry out relevant experimental research to study the effect of EPE foam filling on the out-of-plane cushioning performance of circular paper honeycomb. A series of out-of-plane quasi-static and dynamic compression experiments were carried out on the circular paper honeycomb filled with EPE foam in two arrangements (regular/staggered) and different filling patterns (bare, fully filled, five kinds of partial filling), so as to study the out-of-plane deformation modes and energy absorption characteristics and compare the effects of different arrangements and foam filling on the out-of-plane cushioning performance. For static compressions, compared with the bare honeycomb structure, EPE filling increased the average plateau stress and the energy absorption per unit volume by 10.1% and 8.9% for the staggered arrangement pattern, and by 7.1% and 7.5% for the regular arrangement pattern, respectively. EPE filling increases the maximum static stress of circular paper honeycombs, and the growth is more obvious especially for the staggered pattern. At the same filling rate, the filling patterns have little effect on the cushioning performance of circular paper honeycombs under out-of-plane static compression. For dynamic compressions, the arrangement patterns and foam filling only significantly affect the dynamic cushioning performance of circular paper honeycombs under large loads. EPE foam filling can improve the out-of-plane cushioning performance of circular paper honeycombs, and the staggered arrangement pattern is superior to the regular one.