Disney’s Three-Minute 2025 Holiday Film Features an Invisible Horse

Priya Raman

Disney’s three-minute 2025 holiday short film, “The Invisible Horse,” follows Jack, a boy who believes he has outgrown Christmas, according to Adweek.

The story turns when a mysterious, invisible creature wanders into Jack’s life and pulls him into an adventure. Adweek says the journey rekindles his imagination and draws him closer to his family. The premise gives Disney a deliberately indirect version of the cute-animal holiday ad: the central animal is a horse nobody can see.

Disney replaced Taika Waititi with Dougal Wilson to helm the 2025 short. Adweek identifies Wilson as the director of Paddington in Peru and the filmmaker behind a few festive tearjerkers from the U.K. The account gives no reason for the change and does not describe a version planned under Waititi.

The short sits within a broader seasonal bundle. As described by Adweek, Disney’s campaign combines:

• Festive experiences.
• Entertainment.
• Gifting.
• Partnerships with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The film supplies a self-contained emotional narrative. The surrounding components give the story a place in a wider campaign. Adweek’s report does not name individual products, activation dates or partner mechanics, but it presents the film as one element of a larger holiday push.

What does this change for holiday marketers?

For holiday marketers, the practical change is that a standalone short should not be treated as the whole campaign. Disney has made the film the narrative centerpiece of a bundle spanning experiences, entertainment, gifting and a nonprofit relationship.

Adweek frames cute animals as a reliable format for holiday advertising, and the invisible horse tests that formula by removing the animal’s visual presence. The creative task is no longer recognition alone. The film must make an unseen character emotionally legible and use Jack’s return to imagination and family connection to carry the story.

Wilson’s appointment also sets a creative benchmark for other teams. Adweek connects him to Paddington in Peru and festive U.K. tearjerkers, while Disney’s premise joins family reconciliation with a seasonal advertising format. The report does not support conclusions about Waititi’s intended approach, so the change should not be read as evidence of a tonal reversal.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation partnership gives the campaign a cause-linked component alongside entertainment and gifting. Adweek does not disclose the scale or format of that partnership, which limits any assessment of its execution. What the report does show is the range Disney has assigned to one holiday platform: a family story, a three-minute film, seasonal offers and a charitable connection.

For practitioners, the operational lesson is to design the narrative and campaign bundle as one system. Jack’s arc gives the brand a clear emotional entry point. Festive experiences, entertainment, gifting and the nonprofit partnership provide several ways for audiences to engage beyond the film’s three minutes. Adweek does not specify how those elements will work together.

Disney’s 2025 holiday campaign now has an unusual lead character: one defined by absence. Its next test is whether that device can connect the film’s family-focused story to the entertainment, gifting and Make-A-Wish Foundation elements bundled around it.