Disney Animated Canon

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The main animated films produced by the Disney studios.

In 1937, Walt Disney released the first feature-length animated film in the English-speaking world. (However, it wasn't, as many claim, the first feature-length animated film ever. Foreign examples predating Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs include Argentina's El Apóstol in 1917, Germany's The Adventures of Prince Achmed in 1926, and Egypt's Mich Mich Effendi in 1935.)

This category does not include Pixar productions, nor does it include every animated feature released by Disney (such as those created by DisneyToon Studios, Direct to Video Sequels, or animated films made under a different banner, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas). There don't seem to be any hard-and-fast rules as to which movies get to be part of the canon and which don't, but generally, the canon films are made by the Disney feature animation unit (live-action/animation hybrids like Mary Poppins tend not to count unless the animation is the bulk of the film). The Other Wiki has a set of lists for both the canon and non-canon films.

See also Disney Princess, Enchanted (a possible Affectionate Parody of Disney's own films), Kingdom Hearts, a video game series which also seems to follow the rule of only using canonical characters from nearly all of these films (and then some!), or House of Mouse which represents almost every canonical movie (and then some!) with at least a cameo appearance. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Nightmare Before Christmas were both produced and released by Disney under its Touchstone Pictures banner (The latter's 3D rereleases were under the Disney banner). Compare the works of former Disney animator Don Bluth, as well as the two feature length animated films made by Fleischer Studios. For notable Disney staff, go here.

The films, in chronological order, are:

  1. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  2. Pinocchio (1940)
  3. Fantasia[1] (1940)
  4. Dumbo (1941)
  5. Bambi (1942)
  6. Saludos Amigos[1] (1943)
  7. The Three Caballeros[1] (1945)
  8. Make Mine Music[1] (1946)
  9. Fun and Fancy Free[1] (1947)
  10. Melody Time[1] (1948)
  11. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad[1] (1949)
  12. Cinderella (1950)
  13. Alice in Wonderland (1951)
  14. Peter Pan (1953)
  15. Lady and the Tramp (1955)
  16. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
  17. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
  18. The Sword in the Stone (1963; last to be released while Walt was alive)
  19. The Jungle Book (1967; final film produced while Walt was alive)
  20. The Aristocats (1970; final film Walt personally greenlit)
  21. Robin Hood (1973)
  22. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh[1] (1977; Partially made while Walt was alive)
  23. The Rescuers (1977)
  24. The Fox and the Hound (film) (1981)
  25. The Black Cauldron (1985)
  26. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
  27. Oliver and Company (1988)
  28. The Little Mermaid (1989; The first film of the Disney Renaissance.)
  29. The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
  30. Beauty and the Beast (1991; The only movie of the canon to be nominated for Best Picture so far)
  31. Aladdin (1992)
  32. The Lion King (1994; Former highest grossing film of the canon.)
  33. Pocahontas (1995)
  34. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
  35. Hercules (1997)
  36. Mulan (1998)
  37. Tarzan (1999, The last film of the Disney Renaissance.)
  38. Fantasia 2000[1] (1999)
  39. Dinosaur (2000; First fully CGI movie done without Pixar)
  40. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
  41. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
  42. Lilo and Stitch (Disney film) (2002)
  43. Treasure Planet (2002)
  44. Brother Bear (2003)
  45. Home on the Range (2004; Planned as the last 2D animation, reversed in 2009)
  46. Chicken Little (2005)
  47. Meet the Robinsons (2007)
  48. Bolt (2008)
  49. The Princess and the Frog (2009; First 2D film after 2004)
  50. Tangled (2010) - Disney released a rather nifty video to celebrate its milestone as the fifty mark.
  51. Winnie the Pooh (2011)
  52. Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
  53. Frozen (2013, second highest grossing film of the canon)
  54. Big Hero 6 (2014)
  55. Zootopia (2016, third highest grossing film in the canon)
  56. Moana (2017)
  57. Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
  58. Frozen 2 (2019, highest grossing film of the canon)
  59. Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
  60. Encanto (2021)
  61. Strange World (scheduled to be premiered on November 23, 2022)

Cancelled films:

  • The Wizard of Oz (the studio did some conceptual art for it shortly after Snow White but it was canceled in preproduction)
  • Chanticleer (some ideas from development migrated into Don Bluth's Rock-a-Doodle)
  • The Gremlins: (Questions of whether plane sabotaging creatures could be made sympathetic and development running late into the war leading to a cancellation due to possibly becoming dated)
  • Don Quixote (just like several other attempts to adapt that story into a movie have been canceled)
  • Fraidy Cat
  • Wild Life (due to concerns about more mature content)
  • My Peoples (due to the closure of the Florida studio, which was the only one making the movie)
  • Fantasia 2006 (due to shifting management; several shorts were completed and released separately)
  • Mort (Disney couldn't get the adaptation rights, which were sold as one large package rather than individually)
  • Sequels were also planned for films such as The Jungle Book and Bambi during earlier phases, though didn't get past early production stages (allegedly due to Walt not being a fan of sequels). Actual follow ups were made much later on, but are not part of the Disney canon.
Disney Animated Canon is the Trope Namer for:

By definition, none of Disney's films fit the trope All Animation Is Disney, but they are still the Trope Namer.

The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Disney Animated Canon franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Consists of several short films released as one feature.