Zootopia is among the franchises covered by Disney’s new licensing agreement with OpenAI. The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI announced a three-year deal that will add Disney characters and imagery to Sora, OpenAI’s short-form video generator. According to their joint statement, the pact will let users create and share clips featuring more than 200 animated characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars.
The companies said the license excludes any talent likenesses or voices. As part of the arrangement, Disney will invest $1 billion in OpenAI and will become a “major customer” of the company.
The agreement drew criticism from Fairplay, a nonprofit advocating for reduced children’s screen time, which argued the deal “betrays kids” and accused Disney of helping OpenAI attract young users despite OpenAI’s assertion that children are not permitted to use Sora.
Disney and OpenAI said they are committed to protecting creators’ rights and will implement strong safeguards to prevent the generation of illegal or harmful content. The expanded character options in Sora are slated to become available to users in 2026.