Adobe and The Walt Disney Company announced a multi-year strategic alliance on Nov. 9, 2026, at Adobe MAX in Miami Beach. Adobe is now "an Official AI Innovation Partner of The Walt Disney Company." The AI core of the agreement: Disney will work with Adobe through Adobe Firefly Foundry on proprietary generative AI models customized on Disney properties, according to the Adobe announcement. The release does not give financial terms.
What the deal covers
Adobe "will provide early access to the latest AI, creative and media technologies" to Disney: Adobe Firefly for generative AI, Adobe Firefly Foundry for proprietary AI models, Adobe Premiere for video editing and Adobe Photoshop for digital imaging, "along with dedicated engineering and research resources" to support the Disney production pipeline (Adobe).
The release describes the model work: "With Adobe Firefly Foundry, Disney will work directly with Adobe on generative AI models tailored to Disney's properties that are human-centered and artist-led. Customized on Disney properties, these proprietary models are trained on unique world knowledge (character attributes, environments, visual styles) to generate commercially safe and production-ready outputs" (Adobe).
The alliance also covers three Disney units. Adobe joins The Walt Disney Studios innovation hub StudioLAB as a "StudioLAB Innovation Partner" to "explore and expand internal creative workflows." At the ESPN Edge Innovation Center, ESPN and Adobe "will identify ways for AI to enhance the engagement with sports fans and shape how ESPN delivers content as well as new ways to bring ESPN's archive to life." Co-innovation projects with StudioLAB and ESPN Edge "are already underway" (Adobe).
On the marketing side, Adobe will run global marketing activations, industry events and customer storytelling with Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Disney Cruise Line, ESPN Edge and StudioLAB, and "will increase its presence across Disney's media platforms" (Adobe).
Hannah Elsakr, vice president, GenAI New Business Ventures at Adobe, said the two companies "will build a new creative foundation that thoughtfully deploys AI as an accelerant for artistic vision, creativity and guest engagement" (Adobe).
What Firefly Foundry is
Adobe introduced Firefly Foundry at Adobe MAX 2025 on Oct. 28, 2025. It lets businesses "work directly with Adobe and create tailored generative AI models that are unique to their brand." The models are trained "on entire catalogs of existing IP" and "can be built on top of commercially safe Adobe Firefly models." Foundry covers image, video, audio, vector and 3D, and Adobe experts handle model training (Adobe launch release).
Adobe's separate Firefly Custom Models are trained on a style or a subject using existing images. Foundry models "can be trained on multiple asset types, including images, video, audio, vectors, or 3D assets" (Adobe product page).
In that 2025 release, Elsakr said Adobe "has been working with tech-forward innovators like Walt Disney Imagineering" on Firefly Foundry (Adobe).
Where Disney already uses it
Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development already uses Firefly Foundry in the theme park development pipeline. Adobe lists "a sketch-to-image model that transforms hand-drawn concepts into fully rendered 2D concept art, as well as a custom image model that generates on-brand, franchise-accurate creative assets" (Adobe).
Disney's earlier AI deals
On Dec. 11, 2025, Disney and OpenAI announced a three-year licensing agreement that let Sora generate short videos drawing on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters. Disney was to make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI (Disney).
OpenAI shut down Sora in March 2026. The BBC reported on March 25, 2026, that OpenAI "will also wind down its $1bn content partnership" with Disney, and that "Reuters reported no money had actually changed hands." A Disney spokesperson said "we respect OpenAI's decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere," and Disney said it would engage with other AI platforms to use the technology responsibly without infringing on IP (BBC).
The Verge calls the Adobe alliance "the latest example of Disney embracing generative AI tools" (The Verge). In October 2026, after Character.AI filed for bankruptcy, Disney agreed to make employment offers to at least 60 Character.AI employees, according to a legal filing spotted by Bloomberg. Character.AI said Disney agreed to buy some of its assets for $20 million (TechCrunch, our coverage).
Separately, Disney plans to cut several thousand jobs, people familiar with the matter told CNBC, with some managers asked to reduce costs by up to 20%. Bloomberg first reported the cuts on Nov. 2, 2026 (CNBC, Reuters via Investing.com).
Why it matters
This deal gives Disney proprietary generative AI models built with Adobe on Disney's own characters, environments and visual styles, plus dedicated Adobe engineering and research resources, per the release. Adobe's Foundry product page says customers "retain full intellectual property ownership of your data, content, and outputs" (Adobe).
It also names where the work happens: Imagineering R&D for theme park concepts, StudioLAB for studio workflows and ESPN Edge for sports content. Adobe gets the official AI partner title and a larger presence across Disney's media platforms.
What's next
Adobe said more activations will roll out over the multi-year term. Disney reports fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2026 results before market open on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026, with a webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET and 5:30 a.m. PT (Disney investor relations).
Sources
- Adobe and The Walt Disney Company alliance, Adobe press release, Nov. 9, 2026
- Adobe Firefly Foundry launch release, Oct. 28, 2025
- Adobe Firefly Foundry product page
- Disney and Adobe generative AI partnership, The Verge, Nov. 9, 2026
- Disney and OpenAI Sora agreement, Disney press release, Dec. 11, 2025
- OpenAI shuts down Sora, BBC, Mar. 25, 2026
- Disney to hire most of Character.AI staff, TechCrunch, Oct. 18, 2026
- Our post on the Character.AI deal
- Disney layoffs and cost cuts, CNBC, Nov. 3, 2026
- Disney layoffs, Reuters via Investing.com, Nov. 2, 2026
- Disney fiscal Q4 and full year 2026 results webcast, Oct. 12, 2026
