Disney Partners With Dhar Mann and Nastya to Reach Young Viewers

Disney has greenlit two series with YouTube creator Dhar Mann, and the scripts are already in. "We just got the scripts for the two series we've greenlit with Dhar Mann. They are excellent," said Charlie Andrews, executive VP of live action at Disney Kids & Family, speaking on a panel at MipJunior in Cannes on Sunday.

The partnership is part of a broader strategic shift inside Disney's Kids & Family division, laid out by division president Ayo Davis. "I think we can all probably acknowledge that there's been a lot of disruption, especially in the kids space," Davis said. "Kids are watching anything and everything. I experience it in my own home with a 12 year old. I like to say, they're watching everything from 'Bluey' to 'Squid Game.' So it was clear that we had to activate quickly."

Why work with creators who disrupted your business?

Davis framed the creator partnerships as deliberate, not opportunistic. "Creators are important. We know that they're important to our audience. It is literally where they are engaging all day long," she said. "We are connecting with creators that actually bring something to the table, that actually align to our values."

Dhar Mann, who delivered the opening keynote at Mipcom on Sunday, fits that test, Davis argued: "What I am excited about with Dhar Mann is that at its core, his stories are about good and evil, and so we took the thematic around good and evil, which is what we do so well."

Andrews said the Mann scripts are strikingly current. "Everything is so 2026. Maybe it's already 2027. That's how ahead of the curve he is," he said, adding that the projects "still has those incredible Disney tenets of friendship and fantasy and magic and wonder, wish fulfilment."

What about Nastya and preschool content?

Alyssa Sapire, head of original programming and strategy at Disney Jr., highlighted the preschool creator Nastya as another example. "Nastya is, as most know, hugely popular with preschoolers. What she does is she really leans into imaginative play," Sapire said.

Andrews said his team is developing content that ages up with Nastya's own shifting interests on the live-action side. "Nastya is also, you know, ageing and her interests are changing," he said.

Sapire also pointed to "SuperKitties" as a homegrown franchise in the making. "Over the last three years, we've seen 'SuperKitties' grow and build. So, we are in it for the long game and building out the whole ecosystem of 60-minute specials, shorts, a regular long form," she said, with toys and other extensions planned.

Shorts remain in Disney's DNA

Gino Guzzardo, VP of multiplatform content at Disney Kids & Family, argued short-form is a Disney tradition, not a trend. "Some people say that it was all started by a mouse. I would counter it was all started by a short," he said. "If it has a screen on it, we can throw a short on it."

A recent example is "Locker Diaries," an anthology of vertical shorts shot through characters' lockers. "Thankfully, a lot of our properties have high-school hallways in it. It feels organic," Guzzardo said.

How does Disney move kids from preschool to live action?

Andrews described Disney Jr. as a pipeline into older-skewing content, citing last week's launch of "Coven Academy," an original about vampires and witches. "We had huge success in doing that because we know kids love vampires," he said, referencing a live-action path from "Vampirina" into sitcoms five years later.

Zack Olin, senior VP of development and current series at Disney Television Animation, said animation output is tiered by age: "We'll start with shows like 'Big City Greens,' and as they evolve and are seeking out slightly more sophisticated themes or serialization then we'll follow up with shows like 'Dragon Striker.'"

Sapire credited an internal educational resource group with weekly preschool touch points: "We go and we sit with kids, we share the stories that we are bringing into our series and getting that direct feedback," she said. "They are our bosses!"