The Walt Disney Company announced an investment of 1 billion dollars in OpenAI and signed a three-year licensing agreement with them. Under this collaboration, users of OpenAI’s Sora app will be able to create short videos with over 200 characters, costumes, and locations from the worlds of Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars. AI-generated videos can be saved, shared on social media, and selected clips will appear in a special section on Disney+.
As part of the partnership, Disney will become a major client of OpenAI and integrate its APIs, such as ChatGPT and Sora, into its own services, including Disney+ and internal content creation tools. This will enable faster development of animation, visual effects, and concepts for new projects. Additionally, the “ChatGPT Images” feature will gain the ability to generate images using the same characters and scenes.
The license does not cover the appearance and voices of actors and includes age restrictions and blocking of harmful or illegal content. The first consumer features are planned to launch in early 2026 on Sora, ChatGPT, and the Disney+ platform. Sora already allows generating videos up to 25 seconds long based on text descriptions and supports frame-by-frame storyboards and quick creation of short clips.
Disney and OpenAI emphasize that this partnership only covers the use of characters, costumes, sets, and transportation, but does not affect the personal rights of performers. The collaboration opens up new opportunities for fans to interact with their favorite characters and expands creative tools in the entertainment industry.
