Walt Disney Animation Studios

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

This article is about the animation division spun off from Walt Disney Productions in 1986. For the company formerly known as Walt Disney Productions, see The Walt Disney Company. For the main film division established in 1983, see Walt Disney Pictures.

Credits
Descriptions by
Logoboy95, TheLogoFan2004 and Henrynguye5

Captures by
V of Doom, EnormousRat, and LogosForTheWin

Editions by
Henrynguye5, Scj323347, Prodigy012‎, Omoniyi.ade0614, Tjdrum2000, TheLogoFan2004 and Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
Raphael Freire Zanardo and EnormousRat


Background

Walt Disney Animation Studios is an American animation studio owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio was originally formed in 1986 as Walt Disney Feature Animation from the split of Walt Disney Productions (now known as The Walt Disney Company), and is the main producer of animated features released by Disney's film division Walt Disney Pictures (except for those produced by Pixar Animation Studios). The company didn't have an official on-screen logo of its own until it took on its current name in 2007.

1st Logo (Unofficial) (1996)

Visuals: Above the Funcom logo on a white background, there's a sunlight. Over the sunlight, a Mickey Mouse mascot is seen with a hand drawing a picture. Below it are the words "Animation Services" and "Walt Disney Feature Animation" with "Walt Disney" being in a corporate font.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Only seen on Pocahontas for Genesis.

2nd Logo (Official) (March 30, 2007-)

  • Flat version

    Flat version

  • Scope version

    Scope version

  • 50th Animated Motion Picture variant

    50th Animated Motion Picture variant

  • 60th Animated Motion Picture variant

    60th Animated Motion Picture variant

  • Alternate 60th Animated Motion Picture variant, seen on trailers for Encanto

    Alternate 60th Animated Motion Picture variant, seen on trailers for Encanto

  • Wreck-It Ralph variant

    Wreck-It Ralph variant

  • A .gif of the footage from Steamboat Willie used in the logo

    A .gif of the footage from Steamboat Willie used in the logo

Visuals: On a gold paper background, a red circle is drawn. As the camera zooms out, more pieces of paper fold out on the screen like a flipbook (similar to the 2002 Marvel logo), and the circle quickly becomes a rough sketch of Mickey Mouse in his appearance from the 1928 Disney cartoon Steamboat Willie. Eventually, the pages stop flipping, and the sketch animates (showing Mickey happily whistling while turning the wheel on the steamboat he is driving) before slowly turning into footage of the original scene from the short. The scene zooms out onto the background with a spotlight, and below the picture, the words "WALT DiSNEY" write themselves in a sketchier version of the signature corporate font, with "ANIMATION STUDIOS" fading in underneath.

Trivia: In 2024, Steamboat Willie entered the public domain in the United States. However, it has been speculated that this logo was created with inserting footage of the cartoon to extend protection of the cartoon under trademark law.

Variants:

  • Starting in 2008, the logo was given a high definition look, which used the same animation.
  • On the iPad app Disney Animated, the logo is in a 4:3 aspect ratio and was shown when we introduce the first section, "Art in Motion". In this variant, the logo zooms in to focus on an abridged version of the Steamboat Willie footage. As the animation finishes, it cuts to a scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  • On Tangled and Encanto, a custom variant was used:
    • The former has the animation staying in place as it is slowly overtaken by a large orange circle outline, with the wheel being filled with black before transforming into the normal scene. It then zooms out to reveal it is part of a large "50", with the company name entirely in brown appearing at the top, while the stacked text "ANIMATED MOTION PICTURE" appears under the "50", and a small "TH" appears at the top-right corner. The closing version of this variant has the finished product of the animation shown in close-up, then it animates as usual but at a fast-pace, and the company name is already there, with the rest of the text fading in.
    • The latter has the "50" replaced by a "60" and the logo is shortened to the number zooming out to its place. The closing variant just has the last seconds of the normal logo.
      • A trailer for the latter film has the company name replaced with "OUR".
  • On Wreck-It Ralph, the logo is done in an 8-bit video game style on a black background.
  • On Frozen II, the logo crossfades into the opening scene of the movie.
  • A shortened version exists, which has the logo in its last few seconds, with the cartoon footage already fixed in place as the text writes in. This seems to have replaced the standard logo on films.
  • Sometimes, the logo is still.
  • On the Disney100 "4th of July" special look video on Disney's social pages, the first few seconds of the logo are shown in black and white, before it fades into footage from Steamboat Willie. On Disney's TikTok page, it is cropped in a 9:21 ratio to fit the phone's portrait orientation.

Technique: CGI directed by Mike Gabriel and produced by Roy Conli, using Ub Iwerks' original animation drawings from the Steamboat Willie short as reference.

Audio: The sound of pages turning followed by Mickey whistling a cheerful tune with a piano ditty, all taken directly from the original cartoon.

Audio Variants:

  • On Wreck-It Ralph, an 8-bit version of the music plays, although it is not in the same pitch as the original cartoon.
  • The shortened variant has a truncated version of the whistle tune.
  • On some films, the film's opening theme or sound effects play over the logo instead.
  • The closing variant is silent or has the ending theme of the movie.
  • At the end of The Princess and the Frog and post-2011 prints of Beauty and the Beast (1991), only the whistling is heard with no piano accompaniment.
  • The still version has the ending theme of the film playing over it.

Availability: Appears on every film produced by the studio beginning with Meet the Robinsons.

  • It also appears on post-2011 prints of Beauty of the Beast (1991).
  • The shortened variant appears at the end of the studio's films starting with Bolt, as well as on short films and movies beginning with Strange World (due to the length of the 2022 Disney logo).
    • It also appears on the Disney+ series Baymax! and Zootopia+.
  • The still version appears on the Prep & Landing TV specials, as well as the short Operation: Secret Santa.
  • Although a new print logo was introduced in 2020, this logo is still being used on-screen.
  • This logo also does not appear on the 2022 short Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, despite it being produced by the company.

Legacy: This is a throwback to one of Disney's most important films, which popularized Mickey Mouse, the company's mascot (even though the character debuted earlier on the short Plane Crazy).

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Walt Disney Animation Studios
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