Disney has struck a content-sharing alliance with TikTok that will let creators produce short videos built around characters and stories from Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, FX and more — and those clips will appear on both TikTok and Disney+ (Variety).

The deal is set to launch in the U.S. in coming months, with plans to expand to other markets. Financial terms were not disclosed (Variety).

Under the agreement, TikTok creators who opt in will gain access to assets tied to hundreds of films and series from Disney's library. Fans on TikTok will get a Disney-centred experience that is refreshed regularly. The shorts they produce will also surface on Disney+ through the platform's vertical video product, called "Verts" — short vertical clips that users browse by tapping an icon and swiping through a stream of scenes, similar to the feed on TikTok or Instagram Reels (Variety; The Walt Disney Company).

Disney and TikTok will jointly run a "Disney Creator Ambassador Program" that gives participating users incentives plus access to events and career development (Variety).

Asad Ayaz, Disney's chief marketing and brand officer, and Dawn Yang, TikTok's global head of entertainment, each issued statements praising the collaboration (Variety).

This is not the first time the two companies have worked together. A prior partnership centred on the #Disney100 campaign generated 2.5 million creator uploads and 1.4 billion total views, and brought Disney millions of new followers on the platform (The Walt Disney Company).

The Verts product itself is not new to Disney's ecosystem. The company previously introduced vertical video to ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service, and Disney announced at its annual Tech + Data Showcase in January 2026 that Disney+ would add vertical videos later in the year to boost daily engagement (Variety; Deadline). Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, speaking during a May investor call, said the company is experimenting with short-form content and called it especially important for Gen Alpha — the generation of children born from roughly 2010 onward (Variety).

The TikTok deal also arrives after a more ambitious short-form plan fell through. In December, Disney unveiled a three-year agreement with OpenAI that would have let users of OpenAI's generative-video platform Sora create short social videos using more than 200 masked, animated or creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. Disney had planned a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI with warrants for additional equity. That project was scrapped after OpenAI decided to shut down Sora (Variety).

For fans, the arrangement means more ways to encounter Disney's characters in the format they already scroll through daily. For creators, it opens a licensed library that was previously off-limits. And for Disney, it puts short-form video — the medium the company has been building across Disney+ and ESPN — into the hands of TikTok's audience before they ever open a streaming app.