Playhouse Disney Originals

Background

Playhouse Disney was launched on May 8, 1997 as Disney Channel's answer to Nick Jr. However, this network never used its own real on-screen logo until 2000; just the normal Disney Channel logo of the time. On February 14, 2011, Playhouse Disney was relaunched as "Disney Junior", and gained a 24-hour channel replacing SOAPnet, a soap opera channel, on most providers since March 22, 2012, although SOAPnet still survived on some providers as an "automated" network until its end on January 1, 2014.

1st Logo (2000-2001?)

Nicknames: "Mickey Mouse Screen", "Mickey Television", "Mickey TV Tube"

Logo: On a grassy hill background with clouds and sun, we see the words "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" from before. Then the words zoom in the same fashion as the way in the 2000 Disney Channel Originals logo, and the 1999-2002 Playhouse Disney logo zooms in, sans the word "CHANNEL". We see a different character (depending on a show) waving at us.

Variants: Here are different characters that appear inside the logo:

Rolie Polie Olie: Olie and Spot.
PB&J Otter: Peanut Otter.
The Book of Pooh: Pooh.
Out of the Box: Tony and Vivian, also uses the long version, with the flowers growing at the beginning.

FX/SFX: The "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" text and the Playhouse Disney logo zooming in, and the characters depending on the variant waving.

Music/Sounds: A whimsical jingle with a synth voice. For the Out of the Box version, a beautiful-sounding jingle.

Availability: Ultra rare. Seen on episodes of Rolie Polie Olie, PB&J Otter, The Book of Pooh and Out of the Box (the latter two of which are on Disney+). The logo was removed on post-2001 prints of these shows or plastered by the 3rd and 5th logos and the Disney Junior logo. The aforementioned shows also haven't aired since the mid-2000s and barely received any home video releases; even then, the releases are long out of print and the shows haven't been reissued since. However, the Pooh variant is still intact on the DVD release of The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (2000-2003?)

Logo: We see the 1999-2002 Playhouse Disney logo. Then a rocket appears, flying up to the screen. We cut to the rocket diving into an ocean. Then we cut to clips of various Playhouse Disney shows of the era (PB&J Otter, Out of the Box, Bear in the Big Blue House, The Book of Pooh, Madeline, The Little Mermaid, Rolie Polie Olie, and the lost Stanley pilot) and their logos, as well as some kids playing. At the end, Olie from Rolie Polie Olie crashes into the screen and we cut back to the Playhouse Disney logo.

FX/SFX: Everything.

Variants:

When this aired on Playhouse Disney as a promo, some of the clips were different.
Originally, there were clips from The Book of Pooh and Out of the Box instead of clips from the lost Stanley pilot.
In 2002, the clips were changed to reflect the rebrand of the Playhouse Disney block.

Music/Sounds: A jazz/techno theme with a man scatting throughout and a deep voice saying "Groove it on..." known as "Scatterbrain" by Andrew Blythe and Marten Joustra. There are also several sound effects (whooshes, an explosion, Hanna-Barbera sounds, etc.).

Music/Sounds Variants:

On VHS tapes, the deep voice is absent and then-current Playhouse Disney announcer Allyce Beasley says "Playhouse Disney! Every morning, only on... Disney Channel!"
When this aired on Playhouse Disney as a promo, the theme and sound effects were slightly different.
The post-2001 promos have relatively few sound effects and Allyce Beasley saying "Catch [NAME OF SHOW] every morning inside Playhouse Disney, where learning is powered by imagination!"

Availability: Same as the 1st logo. Preserved on VHS tapes of The Book of Pooh and Rolie Polie Olie.

Editor's Note: Remembered by those who grew up with Playhouse Disney in the early 2000s.

3rd Logo (2001-October 2002)

Nicknames: "Mickey Mouse Screen II", "Mickey Television II", "Mickey TV Tube II"

Logo: On a pattern background, the text "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" appear with the copyright stamp under it. Then, the text and stamp fades-out to make room for the Playhouse Disney logo (which is a Disney Channel logo from the era with "playhouse" inside a yellow customized shape with a green outline above it), containing a different character (depending on a show), inside a Mickey Mouse TV screen. Also, the pattern (and the logo) varies.

Variants: Here are different characters that appear inside the logo:

Rolie Polie Olle: Olie and Spot.
PB&J Otter: Peanut Otter.
The Book of Pooh: Pooh.
Stanley: Stanley and Dennis.
Out of the Box: Tony and Vivian.

FX/SFX: It depends on the variant. This was done by Beehive in New York.

Music/Sounds: A whimsical arrangement of the Disney Channel theme of the time, which depends on the variant.

Availability: Extremely rare. It was seen on pre-2003 Playhouse Disney shows like The Book of Pooh, Stanley, Out of the Box, and other old shows of the "Mickey Mouse Screen" era, but has been plastered by the Playhouse Disney Original and Disney Junior logos on nearly every new print of these series. However, it was preserved on the Stanley episode "Dolphin Talk" at the end of Stanley: Spring Fever and on the DVD release of Rolie Polie Olie: The Great Defender of Fun. Surprisingly, it is intact on Disney+ prints of later Out of the Box episodes.

Editor's Note: This is the time the channel had a actual logo instead of the Disney Channel logo.

4th Logo (April 16, 2001-March 30, 2007)

Nicknames: "The Mickey Mouse Head", "The Mickey Head", "The Playhouse Mickey Head", "Yellow Mickey Head", "Inside Playhouse Disney"

Logo: TBA

Variants: TBA

FX/SFX: A combination of 2D animation and chroma-key technology.

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Extinct on TV. However, the "Jack-in-the-Box" bumper can be seen when the "Bonus JoJo's Circus Episode" option is selected on the Higglytown Heroes DVDs On the Move and To the Rescue.

Editor's Note: Very fondly remembered by those who grew up with Playhouse Disney in the 2000s.

5th Logo (January 2003-February 13, 2011)

Original version
2003 version

Nicknames: "The Mickey Mouse Head II", "The Mickey Head II", "The Playhouse Mickey Head II", "Yellow Mickey Head II", "The Ribbon"

Logo: On a green background filled with dark green flowers and yellow stars, a yellow Mickey Mouse head with a purple outline flies from the top-right of the screen. Over the Mickey head, we see the text "playhouse DiSNEY" with "DiSNEY" in its corporate logo font. Suddenly, a blue banner (ala the WB logo) flies up underneath the company name, reading "OrIGInaL" in the same font as the Disney Channel Originals logo at the time. The logo is always followed by the copyright notice on a black background with "DiSNEY" in the signature corporate font.

Variants:

Originally, the word "CHANNEL" was below the word "DiSNEY".
There is a variant where the logo is already there and it’s just the banner showing up.

FX/SFX: The Mickey Mouse head flying, and the blue banner appearing. This was also done by Beehive in New York.

Music/Sounds: A 7-note whimsical flute/accordion jingle with drums and a bass, used as Playhouse Disney's jingle at the time, with cartoonish sound effects and stars twinkling at the end. On other shows, the ending theme finishes over it.

Music/Sounds Variant:

There's a tweaked variant of this logo on The Koala Brothers in which the same logo is used with a high-pitched jingle (via +1 key, which is 70.87 in cents).
A silent version exists.

Availability:

The "Playhouse Disney Channel" variant is extinct, as it was only seen on reruns of their shows from January 2003 until presumably in May 2003 when it got replaced with the second version; however, some episodes of Stanley from that era used this version when it last aired on Disney Junior Canada. It was also intact on a 2004 airing of PB&J Otter episode "Invitation To The Snooties/Too Hot for Fishcicles".
The second version is much more common as it was kept on older VHS tapes and DVDs of pre-2007 Playhouse Disney shows such as Stanley, JoJo's Circus, Higglytown Heroes, Rolie Polie Olie, The Koala Brothers and Charlie and Lola (the latter 3 only used this logo on US prints); although Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse used the ending theme played over this logo, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh used the 2002 Disney Channel logo instead of this one. On Disney Junior (the channel), this was found in split-screen credits of Rolie Polie Olie, most likely due to a processing error. This also made a brief appearance on an episode of Little Einsteins before the Disney Junior logo was shown, likely due to an editing error. During Playhouse Disney's last few years, this was used in tandem with the next logo. This logo might've last appeared on Little Einsteins: Rocket's Firebird Rescue.

Editor's Note: Some people may be startled by the quick copyright info appearing directly after this logo; although the copyright info rarely doesn't appear, especially on shows that show copyright info on their end credits.

6th Logo (August 2007-Feburary 13, 2011)

4:3
16:9 logo
A 16:9 variant with absent bars

Nicknames: "The Sunny Day", "The Mickey Mouse Head III", "The Mickey Head III", "The Playhouse Mickey Head III", "Yellow Mickey Head III", "The Ribbon II"

Logo: On a sunny blue sky background with grass, a tree, a smiling sun, and a yellow bird with a red outline on a tree, we see the similar Mickey Mouse head from before. This time, it's wobbling. Like before, inside the head is "playhouse DiSNEY" with "DiSNEY" in the corporate logo font (just like before). Underneath the "Playhouse Disney" text is a yellow ribbon with a purple outline reading "Original".

Variants:

On Bunnytown, the copyright information on a black background appears after this logo.
On 16:9 shows, the blue bars from the 2007 Disney Channel Originals logo (specifically the widescreen variant) are seen.
A fully animated variant exists, where the sun is in its position, and the camera pans down from just the grass to the bird in the tree and the logo. The logo only wobbles a little in this version.
A very rare variant exists of the 16:9 version where the bars are absent from the logo.

FX/SFX: Just the yellow sun scrolling and the Playhouse Disney logo wobbling. Design was produced by Mary Snyder. This was done by Ca-Square in New York.

Music/Sounds: Silence, the end theme of the show, or a catchy, sunshiny theme composed by the Imagination Movers, which was adapted from the network's bumper theme during the era.

Music/Sounds Variants:

A version with a high-pitched jingle exists.
Sometimes, the theme is shortened.

Availability:

Fairly common. It appeared on Jungle Junction, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Special Agent Oso and Imagination Movers, among others. This doesn't appear on Disney Junior, which tends to plaster over old logos with the Disney Junior Originals logo. Surprisingly, this logo is kept intact on very few Disney+ prints of these shows. Also found on 2007-2010 Playhouse Disney DVDs and post-2010 Disney Junior DVDs of older Playhouse Disney programming, such as the 2013 DVD release of Little Einsteins: Incredible Shrinking Adventure.
However, the full 16:9 version with absent bars is ultra rare, bordering to extinct. It was only seen on a June 23, 2018 Disney Junior Germany airing of Handy Manny, but surprisingly Disney did not plaster the logo. It is unknown if any other shows used this variant.

Editor's Note: A nice take on Playhouse Disney's rebranding on the era and, at the same time, a wonderful finale to the Playhouse Disney branding.