Founded in 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy, the Walt Disney Company redefined what entertainment could be—transforming hand-drawn animation into a cultural institution and industrial force. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) proved feature animation was viable art; Disneyland (1955) invented the modern theme park; the Disney Channel and home video reshaped how children consumed stories. Walt's obsessive commitment to narrative craft and technological ambition set a standard that every entertainment company since has chased. His studio essentially invented the concept of a unified media franchise.
The downstream effects are staggering. Disney's acquisition of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox assembled the most dominant content empire in history, generating hundreds of billions in revenue and licensing. Its storytelling grammar—the hero's journey dressed in wonder and sentiment—became the default architecture of global popular cinema, shaping generations of filmmakers, animators, and audience expectations worldwide.