Disney and Adobe form multi-year AI alliance; Firefly Foundry models trained on Disney properties

What happened

On 9 November 2026, Adobe and The Walt Disney Company announced a multi-year strategic alliance at Adobe MAX, with Adobe becoming Disney's Official AI Innovation Partner. Under the alliance, Disney will work with Adobe on generative AI models tailored to Disney's properties through Adobe Firefly Foundry.

The licensed use

The custom Firefly Foundry models are "trained on unique world knowledge (character attributes, environments, visual styles)" of Disney properties to generate "commercially safe and production-ready outputs". Walt Disney Imagineering R&D is already using Firefly Foundry, including a sketch-to-image model that turns hand-drawn concepts into rendered 2D concept art and a custom image model generating on-brand, franchise-accurate creative assets. The models are described as human-centred and artist-led, and the alliance is framed as deploying AI "while protecting creators and their works".

Scope

The alliance also covers Disney's StudioLAB and ESPN Edge innovation programmes, parks and cruise development pipelines, and global marketing activations. No financial terms were disclosed. This is a licensed, partnership-based use of Disney IP for AI model training — not an unlicensed scraping dispute — and the body states that distinction.