A Disney Holiday Short: The Invisible Horse is streaming now on Disney+ and Disney’s YouTube channel. The new holiday short comes from Paddington in Peru director Dougal Wilson and kicks off Disney’s 2026 Make the Holidays Magic campaign, which raises money for Make-A-Wish.
Jack is starting to think he is too old for Christmas, until he befriends an invisible creature that reminds him what makes the holiday magical. The poster shows Jack in a cowboy hat bouncing along on a saddle with no horse under it, over a snowy mountain town at dusk, and the teaser opened with hoofprints in the snow leading up to a farmhouse porch. The Hollywood Reporter says Woody from Toy Story and Elsa from Frozen make cameos too.
Wilson is best known in the U.K. for his John Lewis Christmas ads, including Monty the Penguin, Buster the Boxer and Excitable Edgar. He also directed the viral Three phone ad with a dancing Shetland pony, so this is not his first holiday horse story, just his first invisible one. Paddington in Peru in 2024 was his first feature film.
Wilson takes over from Taika Waititi, who directed Disney’s last two holiday shorts. Waititi made The Boy & The Octopus in 2024, which earned an Emmy nomination, and Best Christmas Ever last year, with John Goodman as Doodle.
The short is the centerpiece of Make the Holidays Magic, Disney’s season-long campaign with Make-A-Wish, Blue Star Families, Toys for Tots and other nonprofits. At Disney.com/HolidayMagic, you can donate to Make-A-Wish or give toys to Toys for Tots through Disney Store. The campaign also runs through Disney’s TV lineup this season, including a Dancing with the Stars holiday broadcast, The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular on November 30 and the Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade on Christmas morning.
A Disney Holiday Short: The Invisible Horse is streaming now on Disney+ and YouTube. For more, visit our Disney+ coverage.
