Today is a BIG day for The Walt Disney Company. That’s because the company just released its second quarter 2026 earnings report and had its first earnings call with its new CEO, Josh D’Amaro.

©Disney

During the earnings call, we learned some pretty important things about how the company is doing. We learned about theme park attendance, as well as how the company’s streaming is doing, how the company is doing financially, and more. D’Amaro also shared some important details on his goals for The Walt Disney Company in 2026. So let’s take a look at them!

According to The Wall Street Journal, D’Amaro wrote a letter of almost 3,000 words to Disney shareholders outlining his vision for the future of the company. In the letter, as well as during the earnings call, D’Amaro stressed four priorities:

Investing in creative storytelling

During the earnings call, D’Amaro spoke about how creativity is central to the execution of every strategy Disney puts together. This includes investing in existing franchises, but also expanding original ideas and stories. According to Disney’s earnings report, part of this strategy includes “Investing in IP and creativity that breaks through, builds connections, and endures.” This includes Pixar, which has seen a total of eight original films since 2017. This includes Hoppers, which was released earlier this year, but also the upcoming Gatto, which will be released in 2027.

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Disney recently unified its Entertainment content businesses under Dana Walden, the company’s new President and Chief Creative Officer, to support “a cohesive vision across film, television, streaming, and games.” D’Amaro also stressed that storytelling is central to ESPN’s success, and mentioned Disneyland Paris’ World of Frozen, which recently opened, about how the company took a franchise’s intellectual property (IP) to make it an immersive experience for fans.

Strengthening Streaming

D’Amaro also wants to focus on continuing to strengthen Disney’s streaming platforms. Disney+ and Hulu profits went up 88% in the most recent quarter, thanks to subscriber growth, price increases, and improvements made with advertising. Disney also wants to focus on driving Disney+ growth outside the U.S. and is seeing early success with local original programming.

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The company is also looking to build Disney+ into something beyond a premium streaming video service by making it “more engaging, more personalized, and more central to how fans experience our brands.” This could include creating a super app, where fans can interact with everything Disney on one central platform.

Capturing the power of live sports via ESPN

Disney is also doubling down on “the power of sports to aggregate live, passionate audiences across our platforms.” Not only does live sports attract new subscribers, but it also offers marketers engaged audiences. Disney believes ESPN is positioned well to serve fans in this aspect.

©Disney

Over time, Disney will continue to build live sports into streaming, with ESPN being core to that strategy. In Q2 2026, ESPN had the largest share of linear sports consumption among total viewers, although it was competing against both the Super Bowl and the Olympics. The strategy for ESPN will be continued innovation with a focus on new content partners and distributing through direct and wholesale channels.

Delivering on bold growth plans at experience

As we’ve seen, there’s been a new focus on expanding U.S. theme parks, with major expansion projects happening at both Disney World and Disneyland. This also includes the growth of Disney Cruise Line, which can be seen with the recent launch of the Disney Adventure, which is based in Singapore. Several more ships will be making their Disney Cruise Line debuts soon.

Disney Adventure

However, Disney is also starting to think about other experiences that aren’t theme park or cruise-related, including games, stressing that games are a medium where younger audiences tend to go to engage with characters and stories. The report points out that its collaboration with Epic Games is central to these efforts, including Fortnite. In Fortnite, Disney characters are among the most popular.

So we’ll have to see how these strategies pay off for The Walt Disney Company, and we’ll be keeping an eye out for more Disney announcements, so stay tuned to DFB for more.

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What do you think about these priorities? Let us know in the comments!