Walt Disney Company announced on Thursday that it has entered into a three-year partnership with OpenAI to bring its iconic characters into the company’s Sora AI video generator. As part of the deal, Disney will also make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI.
Launched in September, Sora enables users to generate short videos through simple text prompts. Under this new agreement, users will gain access to over 200 animated, masked, and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars—including costumes, props, vehicles, and more.
The available characters include beloved icons such as Mickey Mouse, Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Baymax, Simba, and figures from Encanto, Frozen, Inside Out, Moana, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story, Up, and Zootopia. Users can also leverage illustrated or animated versions of Marvel and Lucasfilm characters like Black Panther, Captain America, Deadpool, Groot, Iron Man, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Stormtroopers.
These characters will also be accessible when using ChatGPT’s image generation feature, which allows users to create visual content from text prompts.
Disney clarified that the agreement does not cover the likenesses or voices of real-life talent.
“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks a pivotal moment for our industry,” said Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, in a statement. “Through our collaboration with OpenAI, we aim to thoughtfully and responsibly expand our storytelling capabilities using generative AI—while respecting and protecting creators and their work.”
Beyond the partnership, Disney stated it will become a “primary customer” of OpenAI by leveraging its APIs to develop new products, tools, and experiences—including features for Disney+.
“Disney represents the gold standard of global storytelling, and we’re thrilled to collaborate on expanding how people create and experience amazing content through Sora and ChatGPT image generation,” said Sam Altman, OpenAI co-founder and CEO. “This agreement demonstrates how AI companies and creative leaders can partner responsibly to drive innovation that benefits society, honors the value of creativity, and helps bring stories to entirely new audiences.”
Notably, Disney has filed a lawsuit against generative AI platform Midjourney for allegedly ignoring requests to cease infringing on its intellectual property. The company has also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Character.AI, urging the chatbot platform to remove Disney characters from its millions of AI companions.
