Disney and Adobe have struck a multi-year alliance to build proprietary generative AI models for Disney’s production work. The two companies announced it today at Adobe MAX in Miami Beach. The models are built under Adobe Firefly Foundry and are tailored to Disney’s own properties.
For the artists at Imagineering, Disney’s pitch is speed, not substitution. Kyle Laughlin, Disney’s senior vice president of R&D technology and engineering, told Reuters that the tools are “in no way meant to replace” roles at Imagineering. He framed the gain in time instead:
We talk about the time frames in our projects in years — it’s years’ worth of development. And what Adobe Foundry has allowed us to do is compress the creative process that would have taken months to now being able to do that in hours and days.
Kyle Laughlin, SVP of R&D technology and engineering, Disney
Walt Disney Imagineering already uses two of the models in theme park development. One turns hand-drawn sketches into fully rendered 2D concept art, and the other generates on-brand, franchise-accurate creative assets. Laughlin says faster iteration also helps Disney “reduce costly changes in the field once we get into the construction of these experiences.”
Adobe says the models are “human-centred and artist-led” and trained on “unique world knowledge (character attributes, environments, visual styles)” to produce “commercially safe and production-ready outputs”. As Disney’s Official AI Innovation Partner, Adobe will give the studio early access to Firefly, Firefly Foundry, Premiere, and Photoshop, along with dedicated engineering and research resources.
The deal also extends to the Walt Disney Studios’ StudioLAB innovation hub and ESPN Edge, where Adobe and ESPN will explore ways to “bring ESPN’s archive to life.” Both companies say co-innovation projects are already underway.
In September, Adobe put AI generation directly inside Premiere’s timeline, and Premiere is one of the apps Disney gets early access to. AI is spreading more widely through creative software, with Claude now working inside Adobe, Blender, and Autodesk apps.
Neither Adobe nor Disney has named a film or TV project using the models, and Adobe hasn’t said they’ll be sold or released publicly. Adobe says more activations and experiences will roll out over the multi-year term.
