Creator / Walt Disney Animation Units

Sometime a company's work load can be quite large, and you don't want your best staff members (Disney's Los Angeles unit, known today as Walt Disney Animation Studios) to waste their time on TV shows when said staff members are best off working on Major Movies, and that's why the other studios are here.

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Units of Disney:

Los Angeles area units

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Walt Disney Animation Studios (formerly Walt Disney Feature Animation from 1986-2006) was established in 1923, when Walt Disney moved out to Los Angeles after his Laugh-O-Gram studio went bankrupt and sold his Alice Comedies to distributor M.J. Winkler. For more information about this unit, see the Classic Disney Shorts page and the Disney Animated Canon page.

Their first studio, the Disney Brothers cartoon Studio opened in 1923 on Kingswell Avenue in Los Angeles. In 1926, the studio, now called the Walt Disney Studio, moved into a larger studio on Hyperion Avenue. In December 1939, the crew began to move into a more spacious studio up in Burbank, a move completed by May 1940. In 1985, the animation crew was ousted from the old building on the studio lot and was moved into some warehouses in Glendale. In 1995, a new feature animation studio (named the Roy E. Disney Animation Building as of 2010) opened in Burbank across the street from the old lot, where the unit is housed today. See also Dream Quest Images, a VFX studio absorbed into this branch in 2002.

Disney Television Animation

Established in 1984, Disney Television Animation (established as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group) produces Disney's animated television series and specials. It didn't really boom until 1989, when Disney stopped relying on TMS Entertainment and established various satellite studios around the world.

Disneytoon Studios

Disneytoon Studios was established in 2003, spun off from the Direct to Video unit within Disney Television Animation established in 1994. This was Disney's DTV unit, producing video (and occasionally theatrical) releases based on famous Disney characters and franchises. In June 2018, Disney announced that the studio would shut down.

See Disneytoon Studios for more.

Satellite studios

Walt Disney Animation Studios Vancouver

Announced August 2021 and expected to begin operation in January 2022, this new studio will focus on providing animation for various long-form series that will stream on Disney+, while the main Burbank studio will continue to produce feature films and short-form projects.

This is actually Disney's second animation studio to be based in Vancouver (see Walt Disney Animation Canada below).

Projects:

• Moana (spin-off series)
• Tiana

Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida

Established in 1989, this satellite studio for the feature animation division was housed in the Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) theme park at Walt Disney World. The studio was nicknamed "the Fishbowl" because the studio also doubled as an attraction that allowed guests to see the artists in action through windows.

The studio worked on segments from various full-length features, and was the main production facility for Mulan, Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear, as well various shorts, including two cartoons starring Roger Rabbit and commercials featuring Disney's properties. The studio closed in January 2004.

See Project Firefly, a studio founded by former Disney Florida employees Paulo Alvarado, Gregg Azzopardi, Dominic Carola, Glen D. Gagnon and John Webber.

Productions:

• The Little Mermaid (1989; ink & paint)
• Roger Rabbit Shorts
  • Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990)
  • Trail Mix-Up (1993)
• The Prince and the Pauper (1990; ten minutes of animation)
• The Rescuers Down Under (1990; ten minutes of animation)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991; ten minutes of animation, including the "Be Our Guest" sequence)
• Off His Rockers (1992)
• Aladdin (1992; ten minutes of animation; also did the animation for Aladdin (Virgin Games))
• The Lion King (1994) (1993, twenty-two minutes of animation, including the "I Just Can't Wait to be King" sequence)
• Pocahontas (1995; eighteen minutes of animation)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996; four minutes of animation)
• Mulan (1998)
• Mickey Mouse Works (1999) (1 short)^List "How to Haunt a House"[/labelnote]]
• Tarzan (1999)
• John Henry (2000)
• The Emperor's New Groove (2000) — Clean-up animation
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
• Lilo & Stitch (2002)
• Brother Bear (2003)

Walt Disney Animation Canada

Established in January 1996, Walt Disney Animation Canada operated from two studios in Toronto and Vancouver and co-produced various direct-to-video projects. This venture was short-lived, and the studios closed in Spring 2000; they were originally set to produce Return to Neverland (then called Peter and Jane), but with the closure, it was instead given to the Australian unit.

Notable staff in the Canadian unit include Keith Ingham, Sean Newton and Bill Speers.

Projects:

• 101 Dalmatians: The Series (digital paint for Toon City; "A Christmas Cruella")
• Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (with the Australian unit, Wang Film Productions, Red Rover Studios and Character Builders)
• An Extremely Goofy Movie (layout assistance; uncredited)
• Mickey Mouse Works — Some shorts, including the Pluto Gets the Paper shorts "Street Cleaner" and "Bubble Gum"
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (additional ink & paint)
• The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (with the Australian unit and Wang Film)
• Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas ("A Very Goofy Christmas" and "Gift of the Magi" segments)
• Return To Never Land (their last project; with the Australian unit and Cornerstone Animation)
• Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You

Walt Disney Animation Japan

DisneyToon Studios Japan (formerly Walt Disney Animation Japan, Inc.) was the biggest of the non-North American units. The studio was founded by Motoyoshi Tokunaga (an ex-TMS producer) in 1988 after Disney bought out Pacific Animation Corporation (a studio mostly known for doing Rankin Bass' Thunder Cats and Silverhawks, and one of the three studios that split off from Topcraft). However, the studio was shut down in 2004 as Disney was getting rid of their non-CGI animation units (yet the Los Angeles units were saved). After that, most of their staff members went to work for Madhouse, Studio Pierrot or Production I.G. The ones who went with Tokunaga joined him when he formed The Answer Studio.

Notable staff in the Japanese unit include Saburo Hashimoto, Shigeru Yamamoto, Sawako Miyamoto, Kazuyoshi Takeuchi, Hiroshi Kawamata, Yukio Okazaki, Kenichi Tsuchiya, and Tsuguyuki Kubo.

See also Tama Productions, Nakamura Productions, Studio Robin, Jade Animation and Takahashi Production, studios that were often used by Disney Japan; Pacific Animation Corporation and Topcraft, the predecessors to Walt Disney Animation Japan; and Studio Ghibli and Studio Gainax, the other animation studios that split off from Topcraft after the blockbuster success of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

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Productions by Disney Japan:

• Adventures of the Gummi Bears: All of Season Five and 9 episodes of Season Six [[labelnote:List]] Toadie the Conqueror, Zummi in Slumberland, Thornberry to the Rescue, Once More the Crimson Avenger, True Gritty, King Igthorn (Part 2), Tummi Trouble, Trading Faces and Wings Over Dunwyn . With the Australian unit and (for the segment "Friar Tum") Guimaraes, replacing TMS Entertainment.
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (one short)^List "To Catch a Hiccup"
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (22 episodes) ^List "To the Rescue Parts 1-5", "A Creep in the Deep", "Chipwrecked Shipmunks", "When Mice Were Men", "Weather or Not", "One-Upsman-Chip", "Love is a Splintered Thing", "Song of the Night 'n Dale", Gadget Goes Hawaiian", "Dirty Rotten Diapers", "Good Times, Bat Times", Pie in the Sky", "Le Purrfect Crime", "A Lean on the Property", "The Pied Piper Power Play", "The S.S. Drainpipe", Zipper Come Home", "Puffed Rangers" With Wang, Sunwoo and A1. Replacing TMS.
• TaleSpin (24 episodes^List Plunder and Lightning (Part 3), Time Waits for No Bear, Mommy for a Day, I Only Have Ice for You, Vowel Play, All's Whale that Ends Whale, The Golden Sprocket of Friendship, For a Fuel Dollars More, A Star Is Torn, A Spy in the Oinment, The Balooest of the Bluebloods, A Baloo Switcheroo, Double or Nothing, Flight of the Snow Duck, Save the Tiger, Captain Outrageous, Gruel and Unusual Punishment, Jumping the Guns, In Search of Ancient Blunders, Bullethead Baloo, The Sound and the Furry, The Road to Macademia, Paradise Lost and Flying Dupes, plus assistance for Hanho Heung-Up for "Stormy Weather")
• Darkwing Duck (13 episodes, with Atelier Bwca, Studio Jack, Tama and Jade) ^List "Darkly Dawns the Duck (Part 2)", "Duck Blind", "Can't Bayou Love", "Negaduck", "Slaves to Fashion", "Calm a Chameleon", "Toys Czar Us", "Dead Duck", "Let's Get Respectable", "Life, the Negaverse, and Everything", "Planet of the Capes", "Smarter Than a Speeding Bullet", "Stressed to Kill"
• Goof Troop (5 episodes) ^List "Winter Blunderland", "Dr. Horatio's Magic Orchestra" (with Animal Ya), "Come Fly With Me" (with Tama), "A Pizza the Action" (with Animal-Ya), "Goof Fellas"
• The Little Mermaid: The TV series, season 1 and the first half of season 2.
• Raw Toonage
• Bonkers (14 episodes) ^List "Trains, Toons, and Toon Trains", "Tokyo Bonkers", "The Toon That Ate Hollywood", "When the Spirit Moves You", "Hear No Bonkers, See No Bonkers", "Calling All Cars", "Never Cry Pig", "Hamster Houseguest", "The Cheap Sheep Sweep", "Luna-Toons", "Poltertoon", "Hand Over the Dough", "Do Toons Dream of Animated Sheep?", "Cartoon Cornered"
• Gargoyles (19 episodes) ^List  "Awakening, Parts 1, 2, 4 & 5", "The Edge", "Her Brother's Keeper", "Leader of The Pack", "The Mirror", "Eye of the Beholder", "High Noon", "The Price", "Shadows of the Past", "M.I.A.", "Grief", "The Green", "Future Tense", "Hunter's Moon, Parts 2 & 3", "Angels in the Night"
• Aladdin: The Series (16 episodes) ^List "Bad Mood Rising", "Getting the Bugs Out", "Mudder's Day", "Strike Up the Sand", "Fowl Weather", "Of Ice and Men", "The Spice is Right", "Power to the Parrot", "Hero With a Thousand Feathers", "Witch Way Did She Go?", "Love at First Sprite", "Vocal Hero", "The Return of Malcho", "That Stinking Feeling"
• Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series (one episode, with Jade) ^List "Zap Attack"
• 101 Dalmatians: The Series (15 episodes) ^List "Howl Noon" (with Tama), "Southern Fried Cruella" (with Anime Workshop Basara), "Rolly's Egg-celent Adventure" (with Tama), "Wild Chick Chase" (with Tama), "Purred it Through The Grapevine" (with Basara), "It's a Swamp Thing", "Alive 'N Chicken", "Prima Doggy", "Treasure of Swamp Island", "Fountain of Youth" (with Basara), "My Fair Chicken" (with Tama), "The Artist Formerly Known As Spot" (with Basara), "Every Crooked Little Nanny", "Horace and Jasper's Big Career Move" (with Tama), "Animal House Party" (with Basara)
• Hercules: The Animated Series (seven episodes, with various additional production facilities) ^List "Hercules and the King of Thessady", "Hercules and the Driving Test", "Hercules and the Epic Adventure", "Hercules and the Big Sink", "Hercules and the Tapestry of Fate", "Hercules and the Bacchanal", "Hercules and the Poseidon's Cup Adventure"
• Mickey Mouse Works: Disney Japan's shorts were also re-broadcast on House Of Mouse.
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (with Jade and Pixar)
  • Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2 episodes)^list "NOS-4-A2", "Lost in Time"

• 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (with Jade, Character Builders and Yowza! Animation)
• Aladdin and the King of Thieves: Done with Disney Australia.
• Aladdin: The Return of Jafar: The first of the Disney Direct to Video sequels, done with the Australia unit. Japan animated the second half of the film.
• Cinderella II: Dreams Come True: An aborted TV series that became a direct-to-video movie.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
• Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas: "Stuck on Christmas" segment with Anime Workshop Basara. Movie with the Canadian Unit and Toon City.
• Mulan II (with support by Jade and Wang Film)
• Piglet's Big Movie
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World: With the Canadian unit, Spaff Animation and Character Builders.
• Pooh's Grand Adventure
• Pooh's Heffalump Movie: Their final production
• The Tigger Movie: Done with TMS (Telecom unit), Tama and other studios.

Unconfirmed:

• Nightmare Ned (the credits list Shigeru Yamamoto as animation supervisor; most of the show's animation was handled by Tama and Animal-Ya)

Walt Disney Television Animation Australia

Founded in 1988 by several former Hanna-Barbera animators, DisneyToon Studios Australia (formerly Walt Disney Television Animation Australia Pty. Ltd.) is often known among the animation community for having very cartoonish and expressive animation, which they are still praised for. The studio had a longer life than the Japanese unit; it became the main hub for Disney's Direct to Video sequels, a role originally fulfilled by the Japanese unit. The Australian unit came to an end in July 2006, due to rising costs for animation in Australia, making it the last studio owned by Disney to ever use traditional animation before The Princess and the Frog. Its role was once again succeeded by other studios used by Disney like Toon City and Synergy Animation.

Notable animators in the Australian unit include Bob Baxter, Adam Murphy, Kevin Peaty, Lianne Hughes, Andrew Collins, Ian Harrowell, Alexs Stadermann, Pieter Lommerse, Ryan O'Loughlin, Bernard Derriman, Robert Mason and Lily Dell.

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Productions by Disney Australia:

• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Their first production. Most of the series after season 1 with Hanho and Wang, replacing TMS.
• Adventures of the Gummi Bears - 8 episodes from the sixth season. ^List "A Gummi's Work Is Never Done", "Tuxford's Turnaround", "Patchwork Gummi", "Queen of the Carpies", "King Igthorn (Part 1)", "Rocking Chair Bear", "May the Best Princess Win" and "The Rite Stuff"
• Darkwing Duck - 10 episodes. ^List "Darkly Dawns the Duck (Part 1)", "That Sinking Feeling", "Comic Book Capers", "Fungus Amongus", "Cleanliness is Next to Badliness", "Tiff of the Titans", "Battle of the Brainteasers", "Heavy Mental" (outsourced to Freelance Animators New Zealand), "A Brush With Oblivion", "The Merchant of Menace"
• Goof Troop - 26 episodes. ^List "Everything's Coming Up Goofy","Good Neighbor Goof", "Slightly Dinghy", "You Camp Take It With You", "Unreal Estate", "Midnight Movie Madness", "O RV, I NV U", "Meanwhile, Back at the Ramp" (outsourced to Freelance Animators New Zealand), "Close Encounters of the Weird Mime", "Where There's Smoke, There's Goof", "Take Me Out of the Ball Game", "Wrecks, Lies and Videotape", "Waste Makes Haste", "Pete's Day at the Races", "Major Goof", "And Baby Makes Three", "A Goof of the People", "Nightmare on Goof Street", "Goofs of a Feather", "As Goof Would Have It", "Partners in Grime", "Great Egg-Spectations", "Three Ring Bind"
• Bonkers - 13 episodes. ^List "Going Bonkers", "Gone Bonkers", "In the Bag", "Is Toon For Really Warm?", "Fall Apart Bomb Squad", "In Toons We Trust", "The Day the Toon Stood Still", "Weather or Not", "Basic Spraining", "New Partners on the Block", "I Oughta Be in Toons", "Stay Tooned", "Cereal Surreal"
• Gargoyles - The episode "Seeing Isn't Believing".
• Aladdin: The Series - 10 episodes. ^List "Air-Feathered Friends", "Do the Rat Thing", "Never Say Nefir", "Garden of Evil", "Some Enchanted Genie", "Sneeze the Day", "I Never Mechanism I Didn't Like", "A Sultan Worth His Salt", "Genie Hunt", "The Lost Ones"
• Timon & Pumbaa^List "Boara Boara", "Brazil Nuts", "Never Everglades", "Yukon Con", "French Fried", "Yummy Yummy Yummy", "Stand By Me", "Rafiki's Apprentice", "Mombasa-in-Law", "Back Out in the Outback/Gabon With the Wind", "Going Uruguay", "Let's Serengheti Out of Here/Congo on Like This", "Shake You Djibouti", "Ocean Commotion", "Palm Beached/Jamaica Mistake", "Oregon Astray", "Klondike Con", "Zazu's Off By One Day", "Africa-Dabra", "Scent of the South", "The Man From J.U.N.G.L.E.", "Maine-iacs", "Once Upon a Timon", "Beethoven's Whiff/Bumble in the Jungle/Mind Over Matterhorn"
• Quack Pack^List "The Really Mighty Ducks", "Island of the Not So Nice", "I.O.U. a U.F.O.", "All Hands on Duck", "Pride Goeth Before the Fall Guy", "Tasty Paste", "Phoniest Home Videos", "Koi Story", "Ready, Aim, Duck!", "Duckleration of Independence", "Snow Place to Hide", "Gator Aid", "Transmission: Impossible", "Leader of the Quack", "Cat and Louse" (layouts only; animation by Wang)
• Jungle Cubs^List "Splendor in the Mud", "Benny & Clyde/Feather Brains", "Trouble on the Waterfront", all of the animated wraparound segments of the “Born to be Wild”, “Once Upon a Vine” and “Monkey Business” international VHS tapes and DVDS
• 101 Dalmatians: The Series - 7 episodes. ^List "An Officer and a Gentledog", "Swine Song", "You Slipped a Disk", "Chow About That", "Full Metal Pellet", "Close But No Cigar", "Film Fatale"
• Hercules: The Animated Series: Two episodes: "Hercules and the First Day of School" (layouts only; actual animation by Toon City) and "Hercules and the Dream Date".
• House of Mouse - A few Mickey Mouse Works shorts.
• The Legend of Tarzan
• Aladdin and the King of Thieves - Done with Disney Japan.
• Bambi II
• Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (with the Canadian unit, Wang Film, Red Rover and Character Builders)
• Brother Bear 2
• Cinderella III: A Twist in Time - The unit's final production, done with Toon City.
• A Goofy Movie (with the France unit and Phoenix Animation Studios). They handled An Extremely Goofy Movie completely on their own outside of some uncredited layout assistance from the Canada unit.
• The Jungle Book 2 - Done with Toon City.
• Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure
• Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
• The Lion King 1 ½ - Done with Toon City.
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride - Done with the Canadian unit and Toon City.
• The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea - Done with the Canadian unit and Wang.
• Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers - Done with Toon City.
• Return To Never Land - With the Canadian unit and Cornerstone.
• Aladdin: The Return of Jafar - Done with Disney Japan. Australia animated roughly the first half of the film, while Japan handled the second half.
• Tarzan II - Done with Toon City
• A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving
• Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (CGI animation)

Walt Disney Feature Animation France

Walt Disney Feature Animation France (formerly Walt Disney Animation France, S.A.) was established in 1989 when Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi sold their company, Brizzi Films, to Disney. Initially, they were mostly used on the TV shows, but starting in 1995, they became a division of the Feature Animation studio, partially animating most of their features from 1996 to 2003. The studio was shut down in Summer 2003.

Features and shows:

• Atlantis: The Lost Empire (with the Florida unit)
• Darkwing Duck (3 episodes)^List "Double Darkwings" (with Hanho), "A Duck By Any Other Name" (with Sunwoo Entertainment), "In Like Blunt"
• Destino
• DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (Their first project, with assistance from the London unit and uncredited studios in China and Spain)
• The Emperor's New Groove (with the Florida unit)
• Fantasia 2000 ("Firebird Suite" segment)
• Goof Troop (5 episodes)^List  "Axed By Addition", "To Catch a Goof", "The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy", "Gunfight at the Okie Dokie Corral", "Have Yourself a Goofy Little Christmas"
• A Goofy Movie (with the Australian unit and Phoenix Animation)
• Hercules (with Richard Purdum Productions)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (with the Florida unit)
• The Jungle Book 2 (additional production; with the Australian unit, Tandem Films, Toon City and Spaff Animation)
• Raw Toonage — (1 He's Bonkers short)^List "Petal to the Metal"
• Runaway Brain
• TaleSpin (6 episodes, with Lápiz Azul Animación)^List  "Plunder & Lightning, Parts 1 & 2", "The Time Bandit", "Pizza Pie in the Sky" (with the UK unit), "The Incredible Shrinking Molly" (with the UK unit), "Bygones"
• Tarzan (with the Florida unit)
• Treasure Planet
• Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too

Walt Disney Animation UK Limited

This short-lived unit was set up in Camden Town, London in 1986 for the animation production of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, using a combination of Disney animators from Burbank, Richard Williams’ associates and animators from all over Europe (many of whom would later join the prestigious Feature Animation unit in Burbank when production wrapped on Roger Rabbit).

Projects:

• DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (with the France unit)
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1 short)^List "April Pooh"
• TaleSpin (2 episodes)^List "Pizza Pie in the Sky", "The Incredible Shrinking Molly" (both with the France unit and Lápiz Azul Animación)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (animation with Richard Williams Studio)

Tropes associated with Walt Disney's various animation units:

• Animation Bump: The Los Angeles, Japan and Australia units are the biggest examples, but all are known for this. This is Disney, after all.
• Depending on the Artist: Most evident in the episodes animated by the Australian studio, unsurprisingly because of the studio's emphasis on expressive animation and less on remaining completely uniform from scene to scene.
• Medium Blending: The North American units are known for this.
• Signature Style: For the Japanese unit, bouncy characters and crisp, mostly precise linework. For the Australian unit, deranged eyes when a character is angry, very specific mouth movements, and wrinkled faces in certain poses. For the French unit, it seemed that they've used a combination of tactics that were found in the previous two studios such as the wrinkled faces and specific mouth movements (Australian) and the bounciness (Japanese), likely stemming from the Brizzi brothers's work on the likes of Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea and Asterix Versus Caesar.

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