Walt Disney Animation Studios

**Walt Disney Animation Studios** is an American animation studio headquartered in Burbank, California. It was started on October 16, 1923 under the name, **Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio**. In 1929, it was renamed **Walt Disney Productions**. On February 2, 1986, after Disney had moved into making mostly live-action movies, it was re-established as **Walt Disney Feature Animation**, taking on its current name in 2007. It has been known for making animated feature movies in association with Walt Disney Pictures.

## Locations

Walt Disney Animation Studios is headquartered in the Sorcerer's Hat building which was completed in 1995.  It is in Burbank, California close to Walt Disney Studios. The Walt Disney Studios where its original animated studio was located. Satellite studios were around the world in locations like Paris, France, Tokyo, Japan and even at Disney's Hollywood Studios, one of the four theme parks in Walt Disney World, Florida. They were all closed down by 2004 and December 24, 2022  because the 2D movies which the satellite studios made were unsuccessful what

## Characters

Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck and other Disney animated characters.

## Filmography

This list includes the movies made by Walt Disney Animation Studios; originally Walt Disney Productions (1937–1985) and Walt Disney Feature Animation (1986–2007).

### Released movies

|style="width:10%;"|Movie|style="width:10%;"|U.S. release date|style="width:15%;"|Directed by|style="width:30%;"|Written by|style="width:15%;"|Based on/Inspired by|style="width:10%;"|Produced by|style="width:15%;"|Composed by|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|||Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears & Webb Smith|"Snow White" by Brothers Grimm|rowspan="2"|Walt Disney|Frank Churchill, Paul Smith & Leigh Harline||||||||
|||Aurelius Battaglia, Billy Cottrell, Otto Englander, Erdman Penner, Joseph Sabo, Ted Sears & Webb Smith|_The Adventures of Pinocchio_ by Carlo Collodi|Leigh Harline & Paul Smith||||||||||
||See credits|rowspan="2"|Joe Grant & Dick Huemer|"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe _inter alia_|Walt Disney & Ben Sharpsteen|Leopold Stokowski||||||||
||**Supervising Director:** Ben Sharpsteen<hr />**Sequence Directors:** Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson Wilfred Jackson Jack Kinney Bill Roberts|_Dumbo, the Flying Elephant_ by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl|rowspan="16"|Walt Disney|Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace|||||||||
||**Supervising Director:** David Hand<hr />**Sequence Directors:** James Algar Samuel Armstrong Graham Heid Bill Roberts Paul Satterfield Norman Wright|Chuck Couch, Carl Fallberg, Larry Morey, Mel Shaw, Vernon Stallings & Ralph Wright|_Bambi, a Life in the Woods_ by Felix Salten|Frank Churchill and Edward H. Plumb||||||||||
||Norm Ferguson Wilfred Jackson Jack Kinney Hamilton Luske Bill Roberts|Homer Brightman, Joe Grant, Dick Huemer, Harold Reeves, Roy Williams & Ralph Wright|rowspan="2"|original|Paul Smith and Edward H. Plumb|||||||||
||**Supervising Director:** Norm Ferguson<hr />**Sequence Directors:** Clyde Geronimi Jack Kinney Bill Roberts Harold Young|James Bodrero, Homer Brightman, Del Connell, Billy Cottrell, Bill Peet, Elmer Plummer, Ted Sears, Ernest Terrazas, Roy Williams & Ralph Wright|Edward H. Plumb, Paul Smith and Charles Wolcott|||||||||||
||Clyde Geronimi Jack Kinney Hamilton Luske Joshua Meador Robert Cormack|James Bodrero, Homer Brightman, Erwin Graham, Eric Gurney, T. Hee, Sylvia Holland, Dick Huemer, Dick Kelsey, Dick Kinney, Jesse Marsh, Tom Oreb, Cap Palmer, Erdman Penner, Dick Shaw, John Walbridge & Roy Williams|"Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer & _Peter and the Wolf_ by Sergei Prokofiev _inter alia_|Eliot Daniel, Ken Darby, Charles Wolcott, Oliver Wallace and Edward H. Plumb||||||||||
||Jack Kinney Hamilton Luske William Morgan Bill Roberts|Homer Brightman, Eldon Dedini, Lance Nolley, Tom Oreb, Harry Reeves & Ted Sears|"Little Bear Bongo" by Sinclair Lewis & "Jack and the Beanstalk" by Benjamin Tabart|Oliver Wallace, Paul Smith, Eliot Daniel and Charles Wolcott||||||||||
||Clyde Geronimi Wilfred Jackson Jack Kinney Hamilton Luske|Ken Anderson, Homer Brightman, Billy Cottrell, Winston Hibler, Jesse Marsh, Bob Moore, Erdman Penner, Harry Reeves, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears, Art Scott & John Walbridge|The life of Johnny Appleseed, _Little Toot_ by Hardie Gramatky, "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer & Pecos Bill|Eliot Daniel, Paul Smith and Ken Darby||||||||||
||James Algar Clyde Geronimi Jack Kinney|Homer Brightman, Winston Hibler, Erdman Penner, Harry Reeves, Joe Rinaldi & Ted Sears|_The Wind in the Willows_ by Kenneth Grahame "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving|rowspan="5"|Oliver Wallace|||||||||
||rowspan="4"|Clyde Geronimi Wilfred Jackson Hamilton Luske|Ken Anderson, Homer Brightman, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Harry Reeves, Joe Rinaldi & Ted Sears|"Cinderella" by Charles Perrault||||||||||
||Milt Banta, Del Connell, Billy Cottrell, Joe Grant, Winston Hibler, Dick Huemer, Dick Kelsey, Tom Oreb, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears & John Walbridge|_Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ & _Through the Looking-Glass_ by Lewis Carroll||||||||||||
||Milt Banta, Billy Cottrell, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears & Ralph Wright|_Peter Pan_ by J. M. Barrie||||||||||||
||Don DaGradi Erdman Penner Joe Rinaldi Ralph Wright|_Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog_ & _Lady and the Tramp: The Story of Two Dogs_ by Ward Greene||||||||||||
||**Supervising Director:** Clyde Geronimi<hr />**Sequence Directors:** Les Clark Eric Larson Wolfgang Reitherman|Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright & Milt Banta|"Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault, "Little Briar Rose" by Brothers Grimm & _The Sleeping Beauty_ by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|rowspan="6"|George Bruns|||||||||
||Clyde Geronimi Hamilton Luske Wolfgang Reitherman|rowspan="2"|Bill Peet|_The Hundred and One Dalmatians_ by Dodie Smith||||||||||
||rowspan="4"|Wolfgang Reitherman|_The Sword in the Stone_ by T. H. White|||||||||||
||Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Vance Gerry & Ralph Wright|the Mowgli stories from _The Jungle Book_ by Rudyard Kipling||||||||||||
||Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Gerry, Julius Svendsen, Frank Thomas & Ralph Wright|original|Winston Hibler & Reitherman|||||||||||
||Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Gerry, Dave Michener, Julius Svendsen & Frank Thomas|The legend of Robin Hood|roswspan="3"|Reitherman||||||||||
||John Lounsbery Wolfgang Reitherman|Ken Anderson, X Atencio, Ted Berman, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Gerry, Winston Hibler, Julius Svendsen & Ralph Wright|_Winnie-the-Pooh_ book series by A. A. Milne|Walt Disney & Reitherman|Buddy Baker|||||||||
||John Lounsbery Wolfgang Reitherman Art Stevens|Ken Anderson, Ted Berman, Larry Clemmons, Vance Gerry, Fred Lucky, Burny Mattinson, David Michener, Dick Sebast & Frank Thomas|_The Rescuers_ book series by Margery Sharp|Reitherman and Ron W. Miller|Artie Butler|||||||||
||Ted Berman Richard Rich Art Stevens|Berman, Larry Clemmons, Vance Gerry, Steve Hulett, Earl Kress, Burny Mattinson, David Michener & Peter Young|_The Fox and the Hound_ by Daniel P. Mannix|Ron W. Miller, Wolfgang Reitherman,Stevens & Walt Disney|Buddy Baker|||||||||
||Ted Berman Richard Rich|Berman, Vance Gerry, Joe Hale, David Jonas, Roy Morita, Rich, Art Stevens, Al Wilson & Peter Young|_The Chronicles of Prydain_ book series by Lloyd Alexander|Joe Hale & Ron W. Miller|Elmer Bernstein|||||||||
||Ron Clements Burny Mattinson David Michener John Musker|Clements, Vance Gerry, Steve Hulett, Mattinson, Michener, Bruce M. Morris, Musker, Matthew O'Callaghan, Melvin Shaw & Peter Young|_Basil of Baker Street_ book series by Eve Titus|Mattinson|Henry Mancini|||||||||
||George Scribner|Irene Mecchi and Jim Cox, Timothy J. Disney|_Oliver Twist_ by Charles Dickens|Ron Ellis Canada|J. A. C. Redford|||||||||
||colspan="2"|John Musker Ron Clements|"The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen|Howard Ashman & Musker|Alan Menken|||||||||
||Hendel Butoy Mike Gabriel|Jim Cox, Karey Kirkpatrick, Byron Sampson & Joe Ranft|_The Rescuers_ book series by Margery Sharp|Thomas Schumacher|Bruce Broughton|||||||||
||Gary Trousdale Kirk Wise|Linda Woolverton|"Beauty and the Beast" by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont|Don Hahn|rowspan="2"|Alan Menken||||||||
||John Musker Ron Clements|Clements, Musker, Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio|"Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" from _One Thousand and One Nights_|Musker & Clements||||||||||
||Roger Allers Rob Minkoff|Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts & Linda Woolverton|original|Don Hahn|Hans Zimmer|||||||||
||Mike Gabriel Eric Goldberg|Carl Binder, Susannah Grant & Philip LaZebnik|The lives of Pocahontas and John Smith|James Pentecost|rowspan="3"|Alan Menken||||||||
||Gary Trousdale Kirk Wise|**Screenplay:** Tab Murphy, Irene Mecchi, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White & Jonathan Roberts **Story:** Murphy|_Notre Dame de Paris_ by Victor Hugo|Don Hahn|rowspan="2"|Hans Zimmer, John Powell||||||||
||John Musker Ron Clements|**Screenplay:**  Irene Mecchi & Donald McEnery and Shirley Pierce **Story:** Roger Allers and Rob Edwards & Omar Tyree|The Greek myth of original Heracles|Alice Dewey<hr>**Co-executive producer:**  Don Hahn||||||||||
||Barry Cook Tony Bancroft|**Screenplay:** Rita Hsiao, Chris Sanders, Philip LaZebnik, Raymond Singer & Eugenia Bostwick-Singer **Story:** Robert D. San Souci|_Ballad of Mulan_ by Guo Maoqian|Pam Coats|Jerry Goldsmith|||||||||
||Kevin Lima Chris Buck|Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker & Noni White|_Tarzan of the Apes_ by Edgar Rice Burroughs|Bonnie Arnold|Mark Mancina|||||||||
||Don Hahn Eric Goldberg Francis Glebas Hendel Butoy James Algar Pixote Hunt The Brizzi Brothers|**Screenplay:** David Reynolds, Don Dougherty, Hahn, Goldberg, Irene Mecchi and The Brizzi Brothers **Story:** Carl Fallberg, Dougherty, Goldberg, James Capobianco, James Fujii, Kirk Hanson, Pat Ventura, Perce Pearce, Rob Gibbs, Ron Meurin, Stevie Wermers, Terry Naughton, Todd Kurosawa and The Brizzi Brothers|"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Andersen and "Noah's Ark"|Donald W. Ernst and Roy E. Disney|James Levine|||||||||
||Eric Leighton Ralph Zondag|**Screenplay:** John Hanson, Robert Nelson Jacobs and Walon Green **Story:** Hanson, Zondag, Jacobs, Thom Enriquez and Green|original|Pam Marsden|James Newton Howard|||||||||
||Mark Dindal|**Screenplay:** David Reynolds **Story:** Chris Williams & Dindal|original|Randy Fullmer|John Debney|||||||||
||Gary Trousdale Kirk Wise|**Screenplay:** Tab Murphy **Story:** Wise, Trousdale, Joss Whedon, Bryce, Jackie Zabel & Murphy|The legend of Atlantis|Don Hahn|James Newton Howard|||||||||
||colspan="2"|Chris Sanders Dean DeBlois|original|Clark Spencer|Alan Silvestri|||||||||
||John Musker Ron Clements|**Screenplay:** Clements, Musker & Rob Edwards **Story:** Clements, Musker, Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio|_Treasure Island_ by Robert Louis Stevenson|Roy Conli, Musker & Clements|James Newton Howard|||||||||
||Aaron Blaise Robert Walker|Tab Murphy, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, Steve Bencich & Ron J. Friedman|rowspan="2"|original|Chuck Williams|Mark Mancina||||||||
||Will Finn John Sanford|**Screenplay:** Finn & Sanford **Story:** Finn, Sanford, Michael LaBash, Sam Levine, Mark Kennedy & Robert Lence|Alice Dewey Goldstone|Alan Menken||||||||||
||Mark Dindal|**Screenplay:** Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman & Ron Anderson **Story:** Dindal & Mark Kennedy|"Henny Penny"|Randy Fullmer|John Debney|||||||||
||Stephen J. Anderson|Jon A. Bernstein, Michelle Spritz, Don Hall, Nathan Greno, Aurian Redson, Joe Mateo & Anderson|_A Day with Wilbur Robinson_ by William Joyce|Dorothy McKim|Danny Elfman|||||||||
||Chris Williams Byron Howard|Dan Fogelman & Williams|original|Clark Spencer|John Powell|||||||||
||John Musker Ron Clements|**Screenplay:** Clements, Musker & Rob Edwards **Story:** Clements, Musker, Greg Erb, & Jason Oremland|_The Frog Princess_ by E. D. Baker & "The Frog Prince" by Brothers Grimm|Peter Del Vecho|Randy Newman|||||||||
||Nathan Greno Byron Howard|Dan Fogelman|"Rapunzel" by Brothers Grimm|Roy Conli|Alan Menken|||||||||
||Stephen J. Anderson Don Hall|Anderson, Clio Chiang, Don Dougherty, Hall, Kendelle Hoyer, Brian Kesinger, Nicole Mitchell & Jeremy Spears||Peter Del Vecho & Clark Spencer|rowspan="2"|Henry Jackman||||||||
||Rich Moore|**Screenplay:** Phil Johnston & Jennifer Lee **Story:** Moore, Johnston & Jim Reardon|original|Clark Spencer||||||||||
||Chris Buck Jennifer Lee|**Screenplay:** Lee **Story:** Buck, Lee & Shane Morris|original|Peter Del Vecho|Christophe Beck|||||||||
||Don Hall Chris Williams|Robert L. Baird, Dan Gerson & Jordan Roberts|Big Hero 6 by Man of Action|Roy Conli|Henry Jackman|||||||||
||Byron Howard Rich Moore<hr>**Co-director:** Jared Bush|**Screenplay:** Bush & Phil Johnston **Story:** Howard, Moore, Bush, Jim Reardon, Josie Trinidad, Johnston & Jennifer Lee|original|Clark Spencer|Michael Giacchino|||||||||
||John Musker Ron Clements<hr>**Co-directors:** Chris Williams Don Hall|**Screenplay:** Jared Bush **Story:** Clements, Musker, Williams, Hall, Pamela Ribon, Aaron & Jordan Kandell|original|Osnat Shurer|Mark Mancina|||||||||
||Rich Moore Phil Johnston|**Screenplay:** Johnston & Pamela Ribon **Story:** Moore, Johnston, Jim Reardon, Ribon & Josie Trinidad|rowspan="2"|Clark Spencer|Henry Jackman|||||||||
||Chris Buck Jennifer Lee|**Screenplay:** Lee **Story:**  Buck, Lee, Marc E. Smith, Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez|Peter Del Vecho|Christophe Beck||||||||||
||Don Hall Carlos López Estrada<hr>**Co-directors:** Paul Briggs John Ripa|**Screenplay:** Qui Nguyen & Adele Lim **Story:** Briggs, Hall, Lim, López Estrada, Kiel Murray, Nguyen, Ripa & Dean Wellins|original|Osnat Shurer & Peter Del Vecho|James Newton Howard|||||||||
||Jared Bush Byron Howard<hr>**Co-director:** Charise Castro Smith|**Screenplay:** Smith & Bush **Story:** Bush, Howard, Smith, Jason Hand, Nancy Kruse & Lin-Manuel Miranda|rowspan="3"|original|Yvett Merino & Clark Spencer|Germaine Franco||||||||
||Don Hall<hr>**Co-director:** Qui Nguyen|Nguyen|Roy Conli|Henry Jackman||||||||||
||Chris Buck Fawn Veerasunthorn|**Screenplay:** Jennifer Lee & Allison Moore **Story:** Lee, Buck, Veerasunthorn & Moore|Peter Del Vecho & Juan Pablo Reyes|David Metzger||||||||||
||David G. Derrick Jr. Jason Hand Dana Ledoux Miller|**Screenplay:** Jared Bush & Miller **Story:** Bush, Miller, & Bek Smith|The Film by Jared Bush|Osnat Shurer|Mark Mancina & Opetaia Foaʻi|||||||||

### Upcoming films

|style="width:10%;"|Film|style="width:10%;"|Release date|style="width:15%;"|Directed by|style="width:30%;"|Written by|style="width:15%;"|Based on/Inspired by|style="width:10%;"|Produced by|style="width:15%;"|Composed by|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|An unannounced film is scheduled to be released on November 25, 2026,|Jared Bush <hr>**Co-director:** Josie Trinidad|Jared Bush|Brad Simonsen|||||||||||

## Achievements

The animation studio is noted for creating a number of now-standard innovations in the animation industry, including:

- The multiplane camera (for _Snow White_, but first used in the Academy-award winning short "The Old Mill")
- The realistic animation of special effects and human characters (for _Snow White_)
- Advanced composition processes to combine live-action and animated elements using color film (for _The Three Caballeros_)
- The use of xerography in animation to transfer drawings to cels as opposed to ink-tracing (developed for _101 Dalmatians_, but first tested in a few scenes in _Sleeping Beauty_ and first fully used in the Academy-award nominated short _Goliath II_)
- The use of all-digital methods for painting, compositing, and recording animated features using the CAPS (Computer Animation Production System)

Among its significant achievements are:

- The first animated feature in Technicolor (_Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_)
- The first major motion picture in stereophonic sound (_Fantasia_), otherwise known as Fantasound.
- The first animated feature in CinemaScope (_Lady and the Tramp_)
- The first large format animated movie (the 70 mm _Sleeping Beauty_)
- The first Disney animated feature to use computer-generated imagery (_The Black Cauldron_)
- The first Disney animated feature making heavy use of CGI computer animation (_Oliver & Company_)
- The first Disney animated feature to use digital coloring (_The Little Mermaid_, which introduced Disney's CAPS process)
- The first feature movie to be shot using a 100% digital process (_The Rescuers Down Under_, CAPS)
- The first animated feature to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the only nominee for Best Picture to be traditionally-animated (_Beauty and the Beast_)
- The first Disney animated feature to gross $200 million, and the highest-grossing movie of 1992 (_Aladdin_)
- The highest grossing traditionally-animated (or hand-drawn) movie of all time (_The Lion King_)
- The largest movie premiere with over 100,000 viewers (_Pocahontas_)
- The most expensive animated movie ever made costing $260 million (_Tangled_)
- The highest number of original characters ever created for an animated movie (188 characters) (_Wreck-It Ralph_)

### Documentary movies about Disney animation

- _A Trip Through the Walt Disney Studios_ (1937, short)
- _The Reluctant Dragon_ (1941, a staged "mockumentary")
- _Frank and Ollie_ (1995)
- _Dream On Silly Dreamer_ (2005)
- _Waking Sleeping Beauty_ (2010)

## Related pages

- The Walt Disney Company
- Disney's Nine Old Men
- Pixar
- Blue Sky Studios
- 20th Century Animation
- Disney Television Animation

## References

- Notes

## Infobox (company)

- **name**: Walt Disney Animation Studios
- **logo size**: 250px
- **image**: RoyE.DisneyAnimationBuilding.jpg
- **image size**: 250px
- **image caption**: The studio's headquarters at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building in Burbank, California, Burbank in 2023
- **type**: Division (business), Division
- **predecessor**: Laugh-O-Gram Studio
- **founded**: (first incarnation)
 (second incarnation)
- **defunct**: (first incarnation)
- **fate**: Split into 2 divisions (first incarnation)
- **hq location**: Walt_Disney_Studios_(Burbank)#The_Roy_E._Disney_Animation_Building, 2100 West Riverside Drive
- **hq location city**: Burbank, California, Burbank, California
- **hq location country**: U.S.
- **owner**: The Walt Disney Company
- **parent**: Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios