A spokesperson for Disney declined to comment.
The Toontown Rewritten team knows they operate in murky waters. Without a licensing agreement from Disney, 11 years of hard work could be shut down at any minute by a Disney lawyer. That’s why they’ve taken extensive steps to try to circumvent any concerns the Mouse House would have, including founding a nonprofit organization to oversee the game; making the game free to play; forgoing advertising revenue; removing NPCs of Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald Duck; and implementing a robust content moderation system to protect young players.
“We are trying not to mess with their brand,” says Elizabeth Reedy, the creative media lead for TTR. “We try not to poke the bear.”
These volunteers aren’t just donating their time, either. Toons of the World, the nonprofit behind Toontown Rewritten, is funded entirely through volunteer donations. Server costs alone for TTR amounted to nearly $17,000 in 2023, according to tax filings. The remaining expenses for Toons of the World—which total roughly $22,000—go toward hosting in-person fan conventions and running an online museum dedicated to preserving the history of the original MMO.
“Games and communities die all of the time whenever they’re closed,” says Maya Cohen, an art director for TTR who was part of the early revival efforts. “Even though I don’t know for sure, I like to imagine that when the people at Disney are looking at us, maybe it warms their heart to see the impact that their project had on its players and how they’re keeping it alive for so long.”
“Don’t Let the Corporation Grind You”
Toontown Online is largely considered the first massively multiplayer online game designed for families. The brainchild of game designer Jesse Schell, it first launched in 2003 and was inspired by the Toontown of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Duckburg, the fictional hometown of Donald, Daisy, and Uncle Scrooge created by the artist Carl Barks.
In the game, players (customizable, cartoon animals called “Toons”) are confronted with the world of Toontown being taken over by business robots, who lurk on streets and take over shops with their ugly, sad corporate offices. To fight back, Toons work together to complete tasks and use silly gags like cream pies and seltzer bottles to defeat the baddies and reclaim their town.
The humor isn’t subtle, either. These business robots (“Cogs”) have names like Mr. Hollywood, Corporate Raider, Micromanager, Ambulance Chaser, and Legal Eagle. They attack Toons with everything from clip-on ties to buzzwords to bounced checks. It was a work-vs.-play dynamic that Schell and his team wanted parents and kids to get behind, especially since these were the early days of families having personal computers and kids playing games online.
How the developers got the Walt Disney Company to approve such a game, however, was thanks to some clever maneuvering. As Schell tells it, Toontown’s bad guys were originally going to be evil businessmen, or the “Suits.” Production was chugging along until Roy Disney Jr., the nephew of Walt Disney and son of longtime chief executive Roy O. Disney, came by for a tour at the Imagineering studio and got a preview of the game. The businessman was not pleased.
