Walt Disney and OpenAI have announced a multi-year partnership that brings more than 200 iconic characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars into OpenAI’s video-generation platform, Sora. The collaboration gives fans a new way to interact with Disney’s universes by creating AI-generated scenes and stories using officially licensed visual assets from Disney’s extensive catalog.
Through this agreement, Disney will license character designs, environments, costumes, and other artistic elements, while OpenAI integrates them directly into Sora to enable seamless creative production. Disney is also investing $1 billion in OpenAI, strengthening their strategic relationship and supporting wider adoption of OpenAI technologies—including ChatGPT and API integrations—across Disney’s digital products and internal workflows.
The partnership intentionally excludes actor likenesses and voices, ensuring that the use of characters remains within Disney-owned visual rights. Both companies emphasize responsible AI development, prioritizing intellectual-property protection, creator respect, and user safety while advancing new forms of digital expression powered by generative tools.
Set to roll out in early 2026, the collaboration expands how audiences can participate in storytelling within Disney’s universe. The Walt Disney and OpenAI partnership aims to offer fans new ways to imagine, craft, and share creative ideas using AI, while preserving the artistic legacy and authenticity of Disney’s beloved characters and worlds.
Source: The Walt Disney Company