Disney’s 2026 holiday short is The Invisible Horse, and it arrives Monday, November 9 on Disney+ and Disney’s YouTube channel. The short is directed by Dougal Wilson, the filmmaker behind Paddington in Peru, and Disney has released a first teaser.
The story follows Jack, a young boy who starts to think he has outgrown Christmas. That changes when he forms an unlikely friendship with an invisible creature that helps him find the magic of the season again.
What The Teaser Shows
The teaser opens on a snowy farmhouse, where hoofprints start appearing in the snow with no horse in sight. As the invisible creature gets closer to Jack, a clump of grass lifts off the ground on its own, giving a first look at the friendship at the center of the short. The key art shows Jack sitting in a saddle on nothing at all, waving his cowboy hat over a snowy mountain town lit up for Christmas.
How To Watch
The Invisible Horse premieres Monday, November 9 in two places at once: on Disney+ and on Disney’s YouTube channel, where the teaser is already up. That means anyone can watch it for free, with or without a subscription, and it is easy to share with family once it is out.
A New Director For Disney’s Holiday Short
The Invisible Horse is the latest in Disney’s run of original holiday shorts built around childhood wonder and unexpected friendships. The last two were directed by Taika Waititi. The Boy & The Octopus, in 2024, followed a boy who finds an octopus stuck to his head on a seaside vacation. Best Christmas Ever, in 2025, followed a girl whose unfinished drawing, Doodle, comes to life after Santa mistakes it for a Christmas wish, with John Goodman voicing Doodle.
Wilson is a natural fit for the job. Paddington in Peru, released in 2024, was his first feature film, and before that he made his name with Christmas ads in the UK, so a short about a lonely kid rediscovering Christmas is familiar ground for him.
Disney has not shared a cast list or runtime for The Invisible Horse yet, but the first look makes the tone clear: a quiet, snowy farm story about a boy and a friend nobody else can see, told mostly through what the horse leaves behind rather than the horse itself. If you are building a holiday watch list, Disney+ also has Mickey’s Home Alone on the way this season.
For all the Disney news without the clickbait make sure to follow our accounts! Facebook | Twitter | Threads | Instagram | TikTok
