Once Upon a Studio is an animated short that celebrates 100 years of Disney storytelling. With 543 different Disney characters, this short is a love letter to Disney animation. It is also packed full of cameos from of voices that are known and loved by Disney fans. During the course of this nine minute short fans will hear at least 40 original voices returning to help bring their characters to life.
One of these voices is that of Robin Williams, who originally voiced Genie in Aladdin. From the very beginning, directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy knew that they wanted to have Genie as a part of this short. They also knew that the role really should be voiced by Robin Williams. Producer Bradford Simonsen and Yvett Merino reached out to the estate of Robin Williams about the possibility of using Robin Williams’ voice in Once Upon a Time. Simonsen shared about how this played out to Variety. He said, “We tried to take them on the journey with us to say, ‘We’ve got this very special short that we’re doing. Robin as the genie means so much to so many people and we would really love to involve him. So Dan listened to the outtakes from the original recording and he found those little bites that we could use. We went back to the estate and said, ‘This is what we hope to do.’ Eric, who originally animated the genie is on the show, and he’s going to be part of it.’ And it was wonderful to see that happen.”
Utilizing the outtakes from the original recording to Aladdin allowed for the return of Genie to Once Upon a Studio. It makes for a magical little moment between Olaf and Genie that is both humorous and beautiful.
There were other original voices that were brought back to record vocals for this short. This included Jodi Benson (Ariel), Jeremy Irons (Scar), Idina Menzel (Elsa) and Kristen Bell (Anna) enthusiastically. Yvett Merino shared about how they invited people to return to their roles saying, “It said, ‘We’re working on a short film to celebrate the 100 years. We’d love you to be a part of it and many came into the recording session not knowing anything about it. For anyone that came in, we’d show them the boards. To have them come back and visit characters that they hadn’t done in years, so many were grateful to be included and to be a part of it.”
Another cameo in the short is not a vocal cameo but a musical one. At one point, Feed the Birds can be heard being played on a piano. This is a musical cameo by Richard Sherman. He was brought in to re-record the song he co-wrote with his brothers for Mary Poppins and once used to play for Walt himself. This version of the song was recorded in Walt’s office.
“It’s hard to talk about without making ourselves cry,” director Dan Abraham says of Richard returning to the same place where he and his brother, the late Disney Legend Robert Sherman, would regularly perform the song for Walt on Friday afternoons. According to director Trent Correy, “Those sentimental moments can be really tough onscreen, and usually they need to get worked a lot. Dan pitched me the idea, and then he went off to board it. We both knew ‘Feed the Birds’ would be an important part of this.”
Correy continues, “We watched it play for the first time and it brought tears to our eyes. A couple of days later, we bumped into our head of music, Matt Walker, and he asked us, ‘Why don’t you just get Richard Sherman to play it for your short?’ We said, ‘Is that possible?’ Matt said, ‘Oh, yeah!’ Matt followed that up by suggesting, ‘Why don’t we do it in Walt’s office where he originally played it for Walt?’ We said, ‘OK… but don’t lie to us, Matt! This is a very big deal for us.’”
A little extra pixie dust was added to the effort thanks to Howard Green, Legacy Communications Executive for Disney Animation. He was having lunch with Richard Sherman and offered to talk to him. “Howard asked, ‘Would you would you guys want to show him the short?’” Simonsen shared. “That was when it was in storyboards. So, we all went over and showed him that. It was an amazing experience and he asked great questions. At the end of that, he asked, ‘When are you guys done? I want to see it.’ Trent said, ‘We’ll be done in a year. We’ll show it to you for your birthday next year!’”
Richard Sherman loved what he saw and it led to him returning to Walt Disney’s office to record the beloved song on a Friday afternoon in August 2022. “It looks exactly like how Walt left it, including with the piano the Sherman Brothers played for him back in the day,” Abraham explained. “And there was Richard Sherman! He sat down and played ‘A Spoonful of Sugar,’ and he was just going to town on this piano. Then, when he went into ‘Feed the Birds,’ it was just… I can’t even talk about it without getting chills. I will never, ever forget that day.”
Once Upon a Studio is now streaming on Disney+, being presented in Disneyland’s Opera House, and also is showing in front of theatrical screenings of Moana. This beautiful short is full of magical moments that took a little bit of Disney magic to make happen. Have you seen it yet? What did you think of it? What was your favorite character cameo in it? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.
