Fantasy Land News was invited to a premiere screening and interview session for Disney Worldbuilders at the El Capitan Theatre, ahead of the film’s wide release.
TL;DR Review of Disney Worldbuilders: Director Leslie Iwerks’ new documentary, Disney Worldbuilders, sits down with Disney Legends and creative leaders and traces a line from a childhood memory to a land they helped build at a Disney park. Most of the on-property footage was filmed on location at Disneyland, with several subjects given rare early-morning or after-hours access to the park, and it shows. The Bob Iger segment and Jennifer Lee’s story about World of Frozen are the emotional high points. The tradeoff is a 60-minute runtime that ends just as several of these stories are getting good.
An Honor to Be There – Before we get into the review, it is worth saying plainly that it was an honor to be invited to this one. The El Capitan Theatre was the perfect place to hold an event like this, and meeting Leslie Iwerks in person was a highlight of the night on its own. We have always loved her storytelling, and when we finally met her, we will admit to gushing a little and being pretty nervous. She instantly makes you feel like you are talking to one of your own, a fellow fan who loves the behind-the-scenes side of Disney just as much as we do. She talked like she could have spent hours just talking shop about what is going on. She was warm and friendly the whole time, and her smile is contagious.
Disney Worldbuilders premieres in full at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event and streams on Disney+ starting August 20, 2026.
What Is ‘Disney Worldbuilders’ About? – The format is simple and it works. Iwerks sits down with a group of Disney Legends and creative leaders, has them tell a story from their childhood, and then connects that memory to a land or attraction they went on to help build at a Disney park. Most of the in-park footage was shot on location at Disneyland, and several of the featured storytellers were given the park to themselves early in the morning or late at night to walk through it. That access is where the film’s best moments come from. Iwerks told us in our interview that the shot of the ducks crossing Main Street, U.S.A. was completely real and not staged in any way, and it is one of several small, unscripted moments that give the film its charm.
Disney Worldbuilders Review:
The moment that stuck with me most is the Bob Iger segment. It comes late in the film, and it works on two levels at once. Iger talks about his own legacy as a builder of Disney’s parks and franchises, and about the people he trusted to take the guest experience further. At the same time, the film does not shy away from the fact that Iger is getting older. He walks with a noticeable gait, and he looks tired, like someone recovering from a hard-earned marathon. That is not a criticism of the film or of him. If anything, it is a sign of respect, letting him own his age on camera rather than editing around it.
Ahead of the screening, we asked Iwerks directly about Iger, since she has called him the ultimate worldbuilder outside of Walt Disney himself. We asked whether that description was about his instinct for finding the right people, or whether she saw genuine personal passion from him when the cameras were rolling. She told us:
“Well, he was the visionary. He built Shanghai Disneyland, and now he’s sowing the seeds for Abu Dhabi. Bob has had a vision since the day he came in. He’s the one who brought in all these different companies, Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, ESPN, that are now reflected in the parks. The people he hired are the storytellers, and he probably knows the story better than anyone. This film would not exist without everything he’s done, from Toy Story and Pixar all the way through Fox and Pandora. That’s why I wanted to bring all these people together, because they were all under Bob’s leadership.”
That framing holds up. The Iger material toward the end of the film plays like a look at the legacy of arguably the most consequential leader The Walt Disney Company has ever had.
There are real highlights scattered through the rest of the runtime. Pete Docter walking through Pixar Pier and stopping to play with a child who has no idea who he is makes for one of the film’s quietest, best moments. Jennifer Lee’s segment is another standout. Iwerks happened to be filming with Lee on the same day she visited World of Frozen for the first time, with her sister flying in to join her for it. Lee tells a story about being a daydreamer in school, not defiant, not a difficult kid, just not built for rigid rules and structure, the kind of kid who might get labeled hyperactive when really they just think differently. It is a story that will land for a lot of people who grew up hearing that about themselves.
We asked Iwerks if any one story from the film stuck with her personally. She said: “Jen’s story was the most emotional for me, because of her upbringing, and also because Cinderella and Fantasyland were her inspirations during hard times as a kid. Her full circle moment with her sister at World of Frozen is really touching.” And it is.
Iwerks’ eye for documentary work has earned its reputation, and this film keeps that streak going. We also asked her what she wanted longtime fans, the annual passholders, the people who visit weekly, the ones who can quote every line of the Haunted Mansion and know every trick in Toy Story Mania, to take away from watching Disney Worldbuilders. She said:
“I wanted them to see the perspective from the creators of these brands, the creators of the IPs and the characters. I wanted them to see this from their point of view and feel the intimate side of these people that they feel too. We all walk through the lands as guests every day, but what does it feel like to walk those lands with the creators? I’ll walk it with the Imagineers for The Imagineering Story,” which is available on Disney+ and just had a second season announced during D23 2026, “but walking it with the creators themselves is different, and that was my goal here.”
The film accomplishes exactly what she set out to do. That said, this is not a rags-to-riches story, and there is no antagonist. It can be hard to relate to some of these subjects, since most of them are highly educated people who had real advantages and made the most of them, which is not a knock on any of them. Jennifer Lee’s segment is the one exception, and it is the one we connected with instantly.
Disney Worldbuilders is worth watching. It is short, shorter than we wanted, and it ends abruptly. Personally, I think this material could have supported a six or seven part series on Disney+, since each person here has more story left to tell and 60 minutes is not enough time to tell it.
See What Others Are Saying – Fantasy Land News has been tracking Disney Worldbuilders since it was first announced ahead of D23 2026, through Disney’s confirmation of its August 20 Disney+ release date. Disney Parks Blog also has a full rundown of who is featured and how to watch if you want the official studio angle alongside our review. For more from Iwerks, our review of her last film, Disneyland Handcrafted, is a good companion piece, since Disney Worldbuilders plays like a natural next chapter after it.
Review – ‘A Single Childhood Moment’: Leslie Iwerks Turns Disney’s Own Storytellers Into the Story in ‘Disney Worldbuilders’
“The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other organization, agency, employer, or company.” – Meaning no one was paid to say this!
