Disney and OpenAI announce $1B licensing partnership
Walt Disney has signed an agreement with OpenAI and become the first major licensing partner of the Sora social video platform. The deal, announced on 11 December, includes a $1 billion investment by Disney in OpenAI with the option to purchase additional shares. The licence agreement is for a term of three years.
The integration of official Disney characters makes Sora unique among generative platforms. Under the terms of the agreement, its users will be able to create short videos and images with more than 200 approved characters and creatures from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, as well as use hundreds of animated props, including lightsabers.
Disney protects its characters
Sora is a text-to-video model and a separate OpenAI application, designed to generate short videos based on text prompts. The model is based on content formats that are already familiar to social media users. Sora was launched in December 2024, and the updated version, called Sora 2, was released in September 2025.
Under the terms of the new deal, OpenAI is committed to implementing trust and safety measures in Sora, especially age restrictions. That is particularly relevant for Disney following incidents of character abuse on tech giants’ platforms aimed at children. The company will now receive rights to content created with its characters on Sora and will be able to select the best user videos for posting on Disney+.
Along with the licensing agreement, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its API to create new products, tools, and solutions, as well as implementing ChatGPT for its employees.
The companies have established a joint steering committee to monitor user content for unacceptable use of characters from Disney’s extensive brand list. In particular, OpenAI is prohibited from using voices associated with characters and creating long videos using the brand’s intellectual property. For iGaming, the deal opens up new legal opportunities for content creation and marketing in compliance with licensing terms.
Comments from executives
According to Robert A. Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, technological innovation is constantly changing the entertainment industry, opening up new ways to create and distribute stories. ‘The rapid progress of artificial intelligence is an important moment for the industry: in collaboration with OpenAI, we will responsibly expand the possibilities of storytelling with generative AI, while protecting the rights of creators and their work,’ Eiger emphasises.
Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, welcomed the partnership: ‘Disney is a global benchmark for storytelling, and we are excited about a partnership that will allow Sora and ChatGPT Images to expand the ways content is created and consumed.’ He said the agreement shows that AI companies and creative industry leaders can collaborate responsibly, promoting innovation for the benefit of society, respecting creativity, and helping works find new audiences.
A signal to the media industry
The deal sends a signal to the media industry: Disney is open to agreements with AI companies, provided that the rights and interests of creators are protected. At the same time, the company has stepped up legal pressure: this year, it filed claims against Google and Character.AI, and joined NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery in lawsuits against Midjourney and China’s MiniMax.
Disney sent Google a letter demanding that it stop using its materials in AI services. It claims that Google reproduces and distributes protected images and videos for commercial purposes, considering this a large-scale copyright infringement. The letter was made public on the day the partnership with OpenAI was announced.
Earlier in 2025, Disney also sent claims to Character.AI, saying that the studio’s images and materials were being used without permission. Some of the most well-known cases include legal action against Midjourney and recent claims against China’s MiniMax. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery say that MiniMax is illegally copying their content to train and operate AI services.
These actions show two main trends: studios want to be in control and be paid for the use of their content, but also want to work with AI companies in their own way. The fact that there are so many lawsuits and demand letters shows that there will soon be stricter rules for generative AI in the media industry.
This article was first published in Russian on 12 December 2025.
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