Disney Princess — Snapchat of Snow White and Cinderella figurines with a joking caption about gossiping princes

Disney Princess

2000franchise / fan art subjectclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Disney Princess is Disney's official lineup of animated female protagonists, launched as a merchandise brand in the late 1990s and turned into a global licensing machine by executive Andy Mooney in 2000. Online, the princesses became fuel for fan art, redesign trends, and slang for someone strangely beloved by wild animals.

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Overview

Disney Princess is a multimedia line run by The Walt Disney Company's Consumer Products division, grouping select female protagonists from Disney animated films under a single brand3. The roster started with eight characters and grew each time a new movie added a marketable heroine, giving the brand a rotating cast that ranges from Snow White in 1937 to Merida in 20121.

On the internet, the princesses are a huge fan art subject. Artists constantly redraw them in themes like hipster, high fashion, and steampunk, and the group appears in parody sketches and crossover art across Tumblr, DeviantArt, and Reddit3. "Disney princess" also picked up a second life as slang, used to describe a person who inexplicably attracts wild animals, riffing on scenes where Snow White or Aurora sing to birds and deer7.

Origin & Background

Platform
Disney merchandise line (Tumblr / DeviantArt for fan spread)
Creator
The Walt Disney Company
Date
2000

Snow White, the earliest Disney Princess, first appeared in the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but the modern franchise only came together in the late 1990s when Disney formally named its original eight princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Ariel, Mulan, Jasmine, and Pocahontas3.

The merchandise-first strategy is credited to Disney executive Andy Mooney, who in 2000 pitched a line that would pose old-guard characters like Snow White and Cinderella next to newer ones like Pocahontas and Mulan on branded products2. Later additions extended the lineup: Tiana from The Princess and the Frog joined in 20104, Rapunzel from Tangled in 2011, and Merida from Brave in 20133.

How It Spread

Fan communities scaled up fast in the early 2010s. On April 20th, 2010, a Tumblr blog called "thedisneyprincess" was launched to collect fan art and screencaps5. The subreddit r/disneyprincess opened for discussion and image posts6, while DeviantArt hosted over 80,000 fan art pieces tagged with the princesses by September 20143.

The brand hit a big controversy in 2013 with Merida's official coronation at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Disney debuted a redesigned "princess" version of the character with tamed hair, a smaller waist, added makeup, an off-the-shoulder gown, and no bow1. Brave co-director Brenda Chapman called the makeover a "blatantly sexist marketing move based on money," and after backlash from Jezebel and other feminist blogs, Disney pulled the redesigned images from its website2.

Parallel to the fan-driven remix culture, the phrase "Disney princess" spread as internet slang on Urban Dictionary and social media, describing someone who wild animals gravitate toward in public settings7.

How to Use This Meme

Fan artists typically pick a princess and drop her into an unexpected aesthetic (hipster wardrobes, cyberpunk gear, historical dress) or cross her over with another franchise3. The slang version is often used as a compliment when someone attracts pets, birds, or wildlife without trying7.

Frequently Asked Questions