The 2026 Disney Legends: Every Honoree in Disney’s 39th Class, Decoded
Disney inducted eleven new Legends at D23 2026. Here is the full class, and what the choices reveal about how Disney now defines itself.
Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld
Editor in chief. A knack for the fine print, and likes it.
On Sunday, August 16, 2026, Disney inducted eleven new members into its hall of honor at the Honda Center in Anaheim, the ceremony that closes D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. Ryan Seacrest hosted, and the show streamed on Disney+. It was the 39th class in a tradition that began in 1987, and it brought the total number of Disney Legends to 329. Here is the full 2026 class, who they are, and why Disney honored them.
The 2026 class, honoree by honoree
Bob Iger (executive). More than five decades with the company, from a 1974 job at ABC to the chairman and chief executive who reshaped modern Disney through the Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox acquisitions.
Dwayne Johnson (film). From a Disney camera debut to the voice of Maui in Moana, one of the most bankable stars in the world, honored for a run of family box-office hits.
Anne Hathaway (film). The Princess Diaries made her a Disney name in 2001, and she has been a fixture of the studio’s live-action era since.
Jerry Bruckheimer (producer). The producer behind Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure, a career spanning more than 50 years and films that have grossed close to $15 billion worldwide.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (film and music). The songwriter who gave Moana and Encanto their voices, recognized for reshaping the sound of modern Disney animation.
The Jonas Brothers (music). Kevin, Joe, and Nick, whose careers began on Disney Channel and Camp Rock and grew into an arena act, honored together.
Susan Egan (Broadway and voice). The first actress to play a Disney heroine on Broadway, opening as Belle in 1994, and the voice of Megara in Hercules.
Alan Tudyk (film and voice). A decade of hidden Disney performances, the studio’s go-to voice for scene-stealing side characters across its animated films.
Eric Goldberg (animation). The animator and director who gave the Genie in Aladdin and Phil in Hercules their kinetic life.
Kim Irvine (Imagineering). Fifty-five years shaping the look of Disneyland, from the model shop to art direction, following her mother, Legend Leota Toombs, into the honor.
Chris Berman (television). An ESPN voice since 1979 who helped define SportsCenter and, with it, the network Disney now owns.
Decoded: what this class actually says about Disney
Read the eleven names together and you are not looking at a movie studio’s hall of fame. You are looking at a conglomerate’s. This class honors a Broadway performer, an Imagineer, an ESPN anchor, an arena pop act, a blockbuster producer, and a sitting-era chief executive, alongside the animators and film stars you would expect. That breadth is the point: Disney is telling you, through who it chooses to enshrine, that it defines itself as an empire of parks, sports, music, theater, and franchises, not simply the animation house it started as. The inclusion of Bob Iger, the executive who built much of that empire and recently ran it, is the most telling of all. A company honoring the architect of its own modern business is honoring the strategy as much as the man.
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