How The Rock Became a Disney Legend: Dwayne Johnson's Disney History

The full list of the Disney Legends Class of 2026 was recently released, and among the inductees was none other than The Rock himself, Dwayne Johnson. Johnson of course has one very easy point of Disney identification in the form of Maui, his role from Moana, which he has reprised several times since that film opened in 2016. But the former WWE star actually has a history with Disney that goes back nearly 20 years, including many different films he's made for the company, from multiple different studio labels.

So for your Disney Legends prep benefit, here are all of Dwayne Johnson's Disney roles to date. And suffice to say... No Problem!

Wait, wait, I mean You're Welcome!!!

The Game Plan (2007)

As he made the move from pro wrestling into acting, Johnson's early movies were, not surprisingly, action oriented projects like The Scorpion King and The Rundown, though he did show early on he wanted to dive into different types of roles as well in films like the crime comedy Be Cool and the incredibly offbeat Southland Tales. But The Game Plan is notable both as Johnson's first collaboration with Disney and his first true family film. Oh, and it's also an amusing marker of the time he was transitioning away from using his wrestling moniker for his movie roles, as he had originally, since he's credited as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson here to ease audiences into commonly using his real name.

Though the reviews were rather dire, Johnson showed he was game (hah!) for most anything here, like say walking around covered in bubbles, in this comedy where he plays a famous football player who discovers he has an eight-year-old daughter, upending his life in the process. And it was a hit, bringing in $146 million worldwide on just a $22 million budget - the kind of lower-budget success the major studios could use more of these days, actually.

Various Disney Channel Shows (2007-2009)

Even though he wasn't making a bunch of Disney movies just yet, Johnson did begin to become a semi-frequent presence on their TV programming in the late aughts. In three different shows of the era -- Cory in the House, Hannah Montana, and Wizards of Waverly Place -- Johnson would pop up for guest appearances. And in all three he played the same role... Dwayne Johnson! On the Cory episode, The Rock would be stuck on an elevator with Cory, but the other series amusingly had him being tricked by the main characters - including a ruse that he was visiting a not actually sick Max on Wizards and getting a very extreme makeover he didn't ask for on Hannah Montana.

Race to Witch Mountain (2009)

Johnson would re-team with The Game Plan director Andy Flickman for his second Disney production, a reboot of the beloved 1970s science fiction film Escape to Witch Mountain. Johnson plays a taxi driver who ends up helping two young alien siblings trying to reunite with their people in what is, amusingly, a very different casting choice from the elderly Eddie Albert in the original incarnation of this role in the story in 1975.

Though not the money maker The Game Plan was, it still performed decently, bringing in $106.4 million on a $50 million budget, but likely not as well as Disney might have hoped to continue making more Witch Mountain movies at the time. Still, Johnson did come out of the movie with a costar he seemed to enjoy working with, as he would reunite with Race to Witch Mountain's Carla Gugino in both Faster and San Andreas down the line.

Tooth Fairy (2010)

Okay, this wasn't actually Disney movie when it was made, but it is now and likely will make the montage at the Disney Legends ceremony, even if it's just for the quick sight gag of Johnson with those fairy wings.

This 20th Century Fox release found Johnson's hockey player magically transformed into a genuine Tooth Fairy, in a film that felt like the expansion on The Game Plan's approach to shaking up Johnson's image with a goofier, more family friendly storyline. And though critics once more were less than thrilled, it was yet another solid box office hit, bringing in $112.5 million on a $48 million budget. Plus it had Johnson sharing the screen with fellow Disney Legend, Julie Andrews!

You Again (2010)

If there's any movie on this list you probably haven't heard of or forgot about if you did, it's this one and it's also a safe bet it won't be in that Disney Legends sizzle reel. Released by Disney's Touchstone Pictures, in the latter days of that label, the underperforming You Again centered on a woman, played by Kristen Bell, who is horrified to learn her brother is marrying her high school nemesis.

The impressive cast included Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garber, and Betty White, with Johnson appearing in a brief cameo for his Game Plan and Witch Mountain director, Andy Flickman. It's an amusing appearance, as Bell's character creates a scene on an airplane, only for Johnson's Air Marshall to calm her down and then sympathetically listen to her story about her plight (which is to say, the film's plot) and give her some advice.

Moana (2016)

With his career becoming centered on some very large scale action movies during the 2010s, including several Fast & Furious installments, Johnson wouldn't work with Disney again for several years, but returned to the fold in a major -- and Disney Legend cementing -- way with 2016's hit Moana. In what was an inarguably clever casting choice, Johnson voiced the title character's pal, the demigod Maui, who's certainly not lacking in size or bravado. Johnson got to lean into some of his wrestling background with the ever posturing, posing and self-congratulating Maui. He even got a big musical number, the popular "You're Welcome," with songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda using his own familiarity with Johnson and how The Rock would sometimes sing during his wrestling promos, to craft a song that best suited him and his voice.

As successful as Moana was in theaters, it had what is arguably an even more impressive afterlife, continually ranking as one of the most popular movies across every streaming service, years after its release. This would lead Johnson to reprise the role in a cameo in the short Once Upon a Studio, and then in a bigger way as Moana turned into a genuine franchise. But we'll get to that...

Jungle Cruise (2021)

Johnson's next Disney movie will likely always have some asterisks and question marks around how successful it was or wasn't and how much bigger it might have been, thanks to when and how it was released. Adapted from the iconic Disney theme park attraction, Jungle Cruise introduced a new storyline set in the year 1916 in which Johnson's Amazon River jungle skipper, Frank, is actually one of a group of cursed, 400-year-old conquistadors.

Jungle Cruise was one of many films delayed thanks to COVID-19, but while it would eventually garner generally decent reviews, with a lot of praise in particular for Johnson and costar Emily Blunt's terrific chemistry, it ended up coming out in the summer of 2021 as the last movie Disney released simultaneously in both theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access. Normally, the fact that it barely made back its $200 million budget would have it considered a bomb, when marketing costs and the studio/theater split are factored in. But it also felt like the movie might have made a good deal more if it only played in theaters - though there's no way to ever know for sure. There was some talk of a sequel initially, though Johnson and Blunt have recently said it doesn't seem likely any longer.

Free Guy (2021)

Johnson was one of several cameos in this 20th Century Studios hit, as the voice -- though not the onscreen masked actor -- of a video game character. Though he just has a few lines, it's a notable scene, with Johnson voicing the bank robber who Ryan Reynolds' Guy impulsively ends up stopping, as the first major sign that Guy, a video game NPC, has somehow broken free from his programming.

Moana 2 (2024)

Though it didn't get the critical adoration of the first movie, Moana 2 certainly underlined how beloved the property had become with the public, soaring way past the original's already-impressive $687 million worldwide gross to become a billion dollar grossing bonafide blockbuster. And though the song itself couldn't match "You're Welcome," Johnson still was clearly having fun and giving his all performing Maui's big number, ""Can I Get a Chee Hoo?" while his Maui and Auliʻi Cravalho's Moana remained a very lovable and endearing onscreen duo. Though a third film hasn't been announced, it certainly seems inevitable... And they've got some cliffhanger set up to pay off now, after all!

Zootopia 2 (2025)

Now fully immersed in the Disney ecosystem, Johnson was one of many notable cameos -- along with his Moana costar, Cravalho -- in last year's animated juggernaut, Zootopia 2. Amusingly, the very large Johnson voiced the very small Zeke the dik-dik, with his heavily modulated and squeak-enhanced voice heard screaming "Please nooooooooo!" as he's shot into the air when removed from the tuba he was stuck in.

Moana (2026)

Johnson's next Disney movie will be the live-action version of Moana, with Johnson the one actor from the animated incarnation reprising his role. There's some understandable hesitancy to getting a Moana re-do just a decade after the original came out, and thanks to the recent trailer, Johnson's flowing Maui wig has already become much-debated, joked about and memed... But if history is any lesson, there is probably going to be a large audience showing up to see Johnson once more sing "You're Welcome" on screen, this time in the tattooed flesh.

Dwayne Johnson will be inducted as part of the 2026 Disney Legends ceremony on Sunday, August 16 at D23.