Disney Legends 2026: Meet This Year’s Honorees

“You can dream, design and build the most wonderful place in the world… but it takes people to make the dream a reality.” Walt Disney often emphasized that big ideas only matter if someone brings them to life.

The Disney Legends award is built around that same premise. Established in 1987, it is one of the highest honors bestowed by The Walt Disney Company, recognizing individuals who have made lasting contributions to Disney’s films, television, music, and theme parks.

The 2026 class of Disney Legends will be honored on August 16 at the Honda Center during the D23 Expo, continuing a tradition that serves as both a celebration and a reflection on the people behind Disney’s most influential work. This year’s honorees include Chris Berman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Susan Egan, Eric Goldberg, Anne Hathaway, Kim Irvine, Dwayne Johnson, the Jonas Brothers, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alan Tudyk, and Bob Iger, spanning sports broadcasting, Broadway, animation, blockbuster filmmaking, and Imagineering.

Here’s a closer look at the newest class of Disney Legends and the impact each has had on the company’s legacy.

Disney Legends Class of 2026

The following Disney Legends were selected for the 2026 class, recognizing their contributions across entertainment, media, and Disney experiences.

Chris Berman (Television) – A celebrated and influential figure in the world of sports broadcasting, Berman has covered the World Series, the Super Bowl, and Monday Night Football for ESPN. He’s also expected to be a part of ESPN’s first-ever Super Bowl coverage in 2027. But he’s also an audience favorite, being selected as National Sportscaster of the Year in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, and 2001. One of the ways the sports anchor endeared himself to audiences was by creating catchy nicknames for players, like Bert “Be Home” Blyleven, Roberto “Remember the” Alomar, Jim “2 Silhouettes on” Deshais, and Fred “Crime Dog” McGriff.

Jerry Bruckheimer (Film) – The Academy Award-nominated filmmaker’s credits include the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Top Gun (1986), National Treasure (2004),  Bad Boys (1995), and Beverly Hills Cop (1984) franchises. His most recent blockbuster F1, grossed over $631 million at the global box office, becoming not only the highest grossing sports movie of all time, but also the biggest movie in star Brad Pitt’s career. Bruckheimer has produced some of the most successful television series of the past 25 years, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which quickly became the number one show in the world and spawned five spin-offs. During the 2005–06 season, Jerry Bruckheimer set a then-record with ten series on network television simultaneously, including an unprecedented five shows ranking in the Top 10 in U.S. ratings.

Susan Egan (Voice) – Susan Egan holds a distinctive place in Disney history: she not only originated the role of Belle in Disney on Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast, earning a Tony Award for Best Actress, but also voiced Megara, in Walt Disney Animation Studios’s feature film Hercules (1997).  Egan has also headlined on Broadway in Cabaret, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Triumph of Love and State Fair, was a series regular on WB’s Nikki, and guest-starred on Modern Family, NYPD Blue, the Disney+ series Encore, Gotta Kick It Up for the Disney Channel. She voiced leading roles in Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away and Porco Rosso and spent five seasons as Rose Quartz on Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe. In November 2025, Egan was named the Godmother of the Disney Destiny, the Disney Cruise Line ship which features Café Megara.

Eric Goldberg (Animation) – Eric Goldberg has brought some of Disney Animation’s most unforgettable characters to life, including the Genie in Aladdin (1992), Phil, in Hercules (1997), and the lovable alligator, Louis, in The Princess and the Frog (2009). The veteran animator also added his expertise to Moana (2016) and Moana 2 (2024) by overseeing the CG animation of Mini Maui with hand-drawn flair. Most recently, Goldberg oversaw the hand-drawn animation for the Disney+ documentary, Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, and was head of hand-drawn animation for the Emmy award-winning short film, Once Upon a Studio, which celebrated Disney’s 100^th anniversary in 2023 and featured 543 characters from more than 85 Disney Animation feature-length and short films.

Anne Hathaway (Film) – Hathaway’s Disney career began with her role as Mia Thermopolis in both The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). She was then cast as the White Queen in Tim Burton’s Academy Award-winning Alice in Wonderland (2010) and its follow-up, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016). The Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy winner will reprise her role as Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada 2, due to theaters in May 2026.

Bob Iger (Leadership) – The recently-retired CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Iger is credited with expanding Disney’s legacy of storytelling with the acquisitions of Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), Lucasfilm (2012), and 21st Century Fox (2019), as well as the landmark opening of Disney’s first theme park in mainland China, Shanghai Disney Resort (2016).

Kim Irvine (Imagineering) – Irvine spent more than five decades with Walt Disney Imagineering, overseeing the concept design, color styling, exterior and interior design for most Disneyland projects. Irvine’s mother, Imagineer and Disney Legend Leota Toombs, is best known as the face of Madame Leota in the Séance Circle (and the face and voice of the “Ghostess” at the attraction’s exit), so when The Nightmare before Christmas overlay was created for the Haunted Mansion and Leota’s incantation was rewritten in 2001, Irvine was asked to recreate her mother’s iconic role.

Dwayne Johnson (Film and Voice) – Following a career in professional wrestling—and the most popular and successful wrestler of all time—Johnson pivoted to acting, and made his film debut in 2001’s The Mummy Returns, Throughout his career, Johnson is credited with jump-starting the Fast & Furious franchise in 2011 and rebooting Jumanji in 2017 with two sequels. But Disney fans know him as the voice of Maui in Moana and Moana 2, and this summer in the live-action Moana.

Jonas Brothers (Television and Music) – One of the most successful groups of the 21st century, the Jonas Brothers – Nick, Joe, and Kevin – have sold more than 20 million albums, and earned two Grammy nominations. But the brothers first rose to fame as Disney Channel’s most prominent stars, with lead roles in Camp Rock (2007), Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience (2009), and their own dedicated television series JONAS (2009–2010). The Jonas Brothers returned to their Disney roots in 2025 with of A Very Jonas Christmas Movie on Disney+ and the upcoming Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock 3.

Lin Manuel Miranda (Film and Music) – The Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy, Tony Award-winning songwriter, actor, producer, and director is best known as the creator and original star of Broadway’s Hamilton, but he also wrote and co-created songs for Moana (2016), earned him an Academy-Award nomination for Best Original Song, as well as a Grammy Award. Miranda is also collaborating on the music for the upcoming live-action Moana. Miranda’s eight songs for the Encanto soundtrack all charted on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which spent five weeks at No. 1, and Academy-Award nominee “Dos Oruguitas,” In 2018, Miranda starred in Mary Poppins Returns as Jack the Lamplighter.

Alan Tudyk (Voice) – The multi-talented actor has appeared on stage, screen, and television, but it’s his voice Disney fans know, including has King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Knowsmore in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Heihei in Moana (2016) and Moana 2 (2024), Valentino the goat in Wish (2023), and Duke Weaselton in Zootopia (2016) and Zootopia 2 (2025). For Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Tudyk voiced K-2SO, ater reprising the role in the Disney+ series Andor, earning him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.

Let’s Hear From You!

That’s a wide range of honorees for the 2026 Disney Legend Awards. How did Disney do? Are you happy with the selections? And who would you choose as a Disney Legend if you were on the selection committee? Let us know in the comments below.