Adobe & Disney Imagineering Collaborate on AI-Based Design Toolkit

(eap) US technology company Adobe, which specialises in software solutions and platforms for digital documents, design and creativity, announced this week a collaboration with Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development. The aim is to accelerate the design and visualisation processes for Disney Parks and Experiences with the help of AI innovations.

The implementation will take place via the corporate platform “Adobe Firefly Foundry”, which is intended to enable Disney to create its own generative AI models tailored to the numerous Disney brands. The proprietary AI models are to be adapted to the entertainment group’s existing image and design data in order to support the Disney Imagineers in their creative processes.

“Storytelling is in Disney’s DNA. Empowering creators with the lastest AI innovations is in ours,” said Hannah Elsakr, Vice President, GenAI New Business Ventures at Adobe. “As the teams at Imagineering build new experiences for fans around the world, our tools and workflows will provide a creative foundation to explore bolder ideas and make the best ones a reality.”

“At Imagineering, we’ve always believed technology and human creativity can work together responsibly,” said Kyle Laughlin, SVP of R&D, Technology and Engineering at Walt Disney Imagineering. “Our work with Adobe lets us bring Disney stories and characters to life in our Parks faster, and with the emotional quality our guests expect.”

Example generated images from Adobe Firefly Foundry / © Adobe For a brand such as Disney, every character, every colour and every creative decision carries the weight of an entire century of emotional storytelling. AI models that have been, and continue to be, trained on data collected from the internet offer no guarantees regarding IP fidelity, brand consistency or the provenance of what they produce. Adobe Firefly Foundry is said to work in a fundamentally different way: Disney is now receiving a customised model that builds on Imagineering’s own design catalogue, is responsibly developed on the basis of licensed and proprietary creative assets, and is deeply tuned to understand the precise visual language of each of them.

Among the functions that Adobe’s solution provides to the Disney Imagineers is a sketch-to-image tool designed to quickly transform rough drawings into fully rendered 2D concept art images, enabling designers to make rapid adjustments on the one hand and providing them with further creative input on the other. A 3D modelling capability takes 2D renderings and design concepts and transforms them into detailed 3D prototypes, which are intended to help optimise the planning of construction projects and better estimate material requirements.

The Disney group’s long-term strategy for its Disney Parks and Experiences division is based on several central pillars: investments in intellectual property (IP), creativity, an even stronger global reach and the use of advanced technologies to further develop storytelling, monetisation and operational processes (see EAP news of 7 May 2026: “Disney reports record quarter for Experiences division”). ■