Disney’s New Once Upon A Studio Short Brings Back The One & Only Genie

Walt Disney Studios is celebrating 100 years of animation this year. An entire century of animating characters that have become such deeply entrenched parts of our lives that for many of us they feel like members of the family. Which is perhaps why Disney decided to celebrate with a brand new short film, Once Upon A Studio. The 12-minute short, available to stream on Disney+, honors every animated character in Disney’s illustrious history by bringing them together to basically pose for a class photo. And perhaps best of all, they even brought back one of the most beloved characters of all time. Aladdin’s Genie, voiced by the late Robin Williams in an emotional cameo.

Disney’s Once Upon A Studio opens with two animators walking out of the studio, marveling at the fact that Walt Disney, who died in 1966, started animating characters “100 years ago today.”

“If these walls could talk,” one of the animators adds before closing the doors and leaving the iconic building. At which point, Mickey Mouse himself jumps out of a portrait to ask Tinker Bell if the coast is clear so all of the characters lining the walls can come to life for a special 100-year photo in front of the studio.

From there, we see so many iconic Disney characters come to life. A total of 543 characters in total, truly a staggering feat. From Bambi to Peter Pan and Wendy to Donald Duck, furiously holding the elevator for Flash the Sloth, to every Disney princess. Cinderella and Prince Charming are even there, but this time around it’s Prince Charming who loses a shoe only to have Prince Eric’s dog Max come bounding over to steal it. All of them heading outside to stand in front of the wizard’s conical hat from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice outside of the animation studio’s building for a group photo.

But perhaps the most incredible moment in this sweet short is when Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad) is sitting in front of one of the animation desks, humming “You Ain’t Never Had A Friend Like Me” to himself only to have the Genie appear. And Robin Williams, who voiced the beloved character from Aladdin, say to Frozen’s Olaf as the snowman collapses on the ground, “I haven’t seen a fall like that since Rome.” When Olaf puts himself back together, the Genie says, “Much better.”

Robin Williams’ estate approved the use of his voice for the short, according to Entertainment Weekly, which was lifted from extra footage that wasn’t used when he voiced the Genie for 1992’s Aladdin. And hearing him again was a real emotional hit in a surprisingly emotional little short, which culminated in the entire cast of characters singing “When You Wish Upon A Star,” as Goofy, who (unsurprisingly) messed up the photo shoot, is given a second chance by Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother.

Watch Disney’s short Once Upon A Studio on Disney+ with your kids for a sweet walk down memory lane with all of their favorite characters.