Google has removed dozens of AI-generated videos featuring Disney-owned characters from YouTube after receiving a cease and desist letter from the studio on Wednesday.

The videos included Mickey Mouse, Deadpool, and characters from Star Wars and The Simpsons. Many were created using Veo, Google’s own AI video generation tool, according to Gene Maddaus at Variety.

The timing is notable. Disney sent the letter shortly before announcing a deal to license 200 characters to OpenAI, allowing Sora users to create short AI clips with official permission. The message is clear: unlicensed use will be fought, but licensing deals are on the table.

Disney’s letter included a lengthy list of protected characters from Frozen, Moana, Toy Story, Iron Man, Lilo & Stitch, and Winnie the Pooh. The studio also demanded Google implement safeguards to prevent its AI tools from generating Disney characters and stop using Disney content to train its models.

Google responded carefully. “We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them,” the company said in a statement. Google pointed to its existing copyright tools, including Content ID for YouTube.

Why this matters for newsrooms: This is the clearest example yet of the carrot-and-stick approach that major content owners are taking with AI companies. As publishers and media companies evaluate their own AI licensing strategies, Disney’s model offers a template: aggressive enforcement against unauthorized use combined with willingness to strike commercial deals.

The removed videos now redirect to a message: “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Disney.”

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Walt Disney is putting $1 billion into OpenAI and letting Sora play with more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, under a three-year licensing deal announced Thursday. Fans will be able to generate short social videos and images starring everyone from Mickey Mouse to Darth Vader, with some curated clips headed to Disney+ starting in 2026.

Alongside the license, Disney becomes a “major customer” of OpenAI, integrating its APIs into products like Disney+ and rolling out ChatGPT internally.

Disney will also receive warrants on top of the $1 billion equity stake, deepening the financial tie between a Hollywood giant and one of AI’s most powerful model makers, according to the Financial Times.

Disney CEO Robert A. Iger framed the deal as a way to “extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” in a company press release. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called Disney “the global gold standard for storytelling” and said the agreement shows how AI companies and creative leaders can “work together responsibly to promote innovation that benefits society.”

The guardrails are notable. The license excludes talent likenesses and voices and commits both companies to “robust controls” against harmful content and misuse of voices and IP.

That is a direct response to the AI replica fears that helped fuel the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and later contracts that added AI protections for performers.

Yet even as Disney embraces OpenAI, it is attacking others. The company has sent Google a cease and desist letter, accusing it of using Disney content without permission to train AI models like Veo and Imagen, after similar actions against Meta, Character.AI, Midjourney and others, according to the Associated Press.

Children’s advocates are already pushing back. Josh Golin of Fairplay accused Disney of “aiding and abetting OpenAI’s efforts to addict young children to its unsafe platform and products,” in comments to the AP.

For media and entertainment, the signal is clear. OpenAI’s earlier deals with News Corp, Axel Springer, the Financial Times and others licensed text archives for AI answers. Disney’s move extends that template to premium video IP. The future looks less like an “open web” and more like an AI landscape carved into exclusive content fiefdoms, where the biggest rights-holders decide which models get to play with their characters. 

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