Disney and TikTok have entered a licensing partnership that will allow creators to use characters and scenes from Disney film and television titles in short-form videos. The arrangement covers content from Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and FX. According to the input, it is TikTok’s first deal of this kind with a traditional media company and the first global content-sharing partnership of its kind.
Selected videos from the program will also be carried on Disney+, making this the first time TikTok short-form videos are distributed on another platform.
U.S. rollout starts first, with Verts added to Disney+
Under the agreement, creators must opt in to gain access to clips from hundreds of Disney films and series. The pilot program is set to start in the United States in the coming months, with other markets to follow. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Disney+ has also added a vertical video hub called Verts, curated jointly by Disney and TikTok. It launched in the U.S. on Aug. 5 and is aimed at younger users who watch vertical video on mobile devices. The section is scheduled to expand to other markets later.
The two companies are also launching a Disney Creators Ambassador Program. Participants will be tiered based on performance, and selected creators will receive added exposure, invitations to exclusive events and career development resources.
Opt-in structure leaves non-participating creators outside the licensed framework
The input places special emphasis on the opt-in requirement. Creators who do not join the program, even if they use the same characters and scenes, remain in the existing unauthorized gray area.
That means the agreement creates a formal licensed lane for participating creators while leaving non-participants outside that arrangement.
TikTok cites film and TV sharing activity on the platform
According to TikTok data cited in the input, users on the platform shared an average of 6.5 million movie- and television-related posts per day last year. A survey also found that nearly half of viewers went on to watch a film or TV show after seeing related content.
Those figures form part of the backdrop to the deal, showing the scale of audience traffic that short-form fan content can generate for media owners.
Deal stands out against Disney’s recent IP strategy
The agreement looks notably different when set against Disney’s broader IP strategy over the past year.
In June 2025, Disney and NBCUniversal sued AI image generator Midjourney over infringement, and DreamWorks later joined. The complaint named characters including Darth Vader and Elsa as examples of unauthorized generation. The input also says Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google over alleged large-scale unauthorized training and sent similar letters to Meta and Character.AI.
Then, in December of the same year, Disney invested $1 billion in OpenAI and signed a three-year licensing agreement. According to the input, more than 200 characters are expected to appear on Sora in early 2026, including Mickey Mouse, Marvel heroes and Star Wars characters.
The TikTok arrangement applies a similar licensing approach to human creators. The input notes, however, that the agreement does not clearly spell out who decides whether a video fits Disney’s brand standards or how creator revenue-sharing will be calculated.
TikTok’s U.S. ownership restructuring also frames the partnership
The input also says TikTok’s U.S. business completed a new ownership restructuring in January this year. Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each hold 15%, while ByteDance retains 19.9%. Content moderation and algorithm governance are handled by the new joint venture.
That ownership and governance structure forms part of the setting for this latest Disney-TikTok content partnership.