Bart Simpson opened the show. Not a hologram, not a clip — Dana Walden shared the stage with animation’s most durable brat to unveil a first look at the “Simpsons” movie sequel, due in US theaters September 3, 2027. It set the tone for two nights that turned the Honda Center and the Anaheim Convention Center into the biggest trade floor Disney has ever built for its own fandom, and a working blueprint of where the company’s IP — and the licensing dollars behind it — are headed through the end of the decade.
D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, presented by Visa, drew fans from across the globe for three days that mixed sneak peeks, merchandise drops and park reveals with the kind of scale that makes retail buyers pay attention. CEO Josh D’Amaro opened the Entertainment Showcase with a number that licensing executives should tattoo on a whiteboard: four billion fans, he said, roughly half the planet, connected to Disney not just as customers but, in his words, for inspiration as much as entertainment. Numbers like that are the whole pitch for why a Zootropolis, a Frozen or a Lion King never really leaves the shelf.
The pipeline gets longer, not thinner
What came out of the Entertainment Showcase reads like a five-year release calendar with brand extensions built in at every stop. Lilo & Stitch 2 starts shooting in Hawaii before year’s end, with Chris Sanders back in the director’s chair and a new pink co-star, Angel, joining Stitch — a natural for a toy line that barely slowed down after the 2025 live-action film crossed a billion dollars at the box office. Bluey — the Movie got its teaser and poster, plus a giant-balloon game of “Keepy Uppy” for the crowd, ahead of an August 2027 Italian release. Ice Age: Boiling Point brought Scrat, Baby Scrat and a new “Jurassic Scrat” into the mix for February 2027, while Kathryn Hahn stepped out as Mother Gothel to introduce Rapunzel, Disney’s live-action Tangled, landing in US theaters March 31, 2028, with Diego Luna and Caitríona Balfe rounding out the cast.
On the Pixar side, Pete Docter walked fans through The Incredibles 3 (June 2028), Coco 2 — confirming Ernesto de la Cruz’s return as villain — and a wholly original project called Ghost Market, set in a hidden spirit-diner on Oahu’s North Shore and slated for March 2028. Coco’s footprint, notably, is already spreading sideways: Square Enix used the same evening to detail Kingdom Hearts IV, which will include a Coco-inspired world when it ships in late 2027.
Marvel and Lucasfilm supplied the marquee licensing bait. VisionQuest, closing out the WandaVision/Agatha All Along trilogy, gets an October Disney+ debut with Paul Bettany and James Spader back as Vision and Ultron. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in Italian cinemas December 16, with Robert Downey Jr. now playing Doctor Doom in front of an ensemble cast long enough to fill its own trading-card set. A new, still-untitled X-Men film was confirmed for May 2028, with Kit Connor, Christopher Abbott and Samara Weaving taking on Cyclops, Professor X and Emma Frost — casting news that alone is worth a costume-and-collectibles cycle. On the Star Wars side, Ahsoka’s second season arrives on Disney+ in January, and Shawn Levy brought out Ryan Gosling — in a vintage Mickey Mouse Club jacket, no less — to tease Star Wars: Starfighter.
Walt Disney Animation Studios, meanwhile, confirmed Zootropolis 3 is officially in early development and unveiled two new original titles: Clay, produced with Kieran Culkin voicing a rebellious clay figure named Flip, out in 2028; and Hexe: Il Regno delle Streghe, arriving November 26, with Hailee Steinfeld, Walton Goggins and Jodie Foster rounding out the voice cast of a coming-of-age fantasy that has “franchise starter” written all over its concept art. Frozen 3 closed the night with Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel performing a new arrangement of “Frozen Heart” and a first look at a new antagonist with Elsa-level powers.
Then the parks took the mic
Night two belonged to Disney Experiences, and it was less about single titles than about geography. Thomas Mazloum, Chairman of Disney Experiences, walked fans through Tropical Americas, Monstropolis, a new Cars-themed area and Villains Land at Walt Disney World; a Coco attraction and an Avengers Campus expansion at Disneyland Resort; a Lion King land taking shape at Disneyland Paris; new Marvel experiences in Hong Kong and Shanghai; and a reimagined Space Mountain in Tokyo. The Yeti is coming back to life at Expedition Everest. Tomorrowland is getting a full reimagining at Disneyland Park, and EPCOT’s Journey Into Imagination will be rebuilt around Figment, with Dreamfinder returning to the ride after decades on the sidelines.
For licensors and retailers watching the fan-facing business rather than the box office, two Anaheim floor announcements mattered more than any trailer. The Disney Princess Experience — a new immersive property spanning Rapunzel, Tiana, Belle, Moana and Ariel — is officially in development, unveiled at a Disney Theatrical Group panel rather than a stage show, which is usually a tell that a licensing and location-based push is coming before the ticketed spectacle is. And Mundo Pixar Experience, already running in the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, Seoul and Tokyo, confirmed its first US tour for 2027. Disney also extended its “Fuel the Magic” partnership with Formula 1 through 2028, adding a full extra season to a deal built entirely on merchandising and fan content rather than trackside branding.
Add the smaller lines — Spidey and His Amazing Friends renewed for a seventh season after racking up 1.3 billion hours streamed, a Kingdom Hearts anime greenlit with Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix, LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian premiering September 2 — and the picture for licensing buyers is less a single big bet than a wall of small, compounding ones, each with its own toy aisle, apparel drop or park tie-in already sketched out.
D23 wraps its third day with the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony, honoring a class that includes Bob Iger, Dwayne Johnson, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Jonas Brothers. Whatever gets announced there, one thing was already clear by the end of night two: Disney isn’t slowing its output to protect any single franchise. It’s betting that four billion fans can hold this many stories in their hands at once — and, judging by the merchandise lines snaking through the Anaheim Convention Center, it’s not wrong yet.
