Disney And TikTok Strike Deal To Bring Fan-Made Short-Form Videos To Disney+

Disney is once again opening its vault to online creators, this time through a short-form content-sharing agreement with TikTok.

The partnership will give participating TikTok creators access to assets from hundreds of Disney films and series, including properties from Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, FX, and other company brands. A curated selection of the resulting videos will appear on both TikTok and Verts, Disney+’s vertical-video feed.

The arrangement bears a striking resemblance to Disney’s abandoned partnership with OpenAI. Announced in December, that deal would have allowed Sora users to create short videos featuring more than 200 Disney characters, with selected results appearing on Disney+.

Disney also planned to invest $1 billion in OpenAI, but those plans collapsed in March when the company abruptly shut down Sora as a consumer app and API before the Disney agreement had been finalized. No money had changed hands.

Disney’s TikTok partnership pursues a similar goal through more conventional, human creator tools, encouraging fans to make short videos using company-owned material, then bringing some of that work back to Disney+. Unlike the proposed Sora arrangement, however, the new deal is centered on creators working with existing Disney assets rather than generating new footage from text prompts.

The initiative will begin as a U.S. pilot in the coming months, with other markets expected to follow. Creators must opt into the program for their videos to be distributed on Disney+. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Disney and TikTok will also establish a jointly run Creator Ambassador Program offering participants increased visibility, access to exclusive events, career development opportunities, and other rewards.

The partnership makes Disney+ the first outside platform to carry TikTok videos. It also expands Disney’s broader attempt to position fan-made vertical content alongside its professionally produced films and series.