Interestingly, both the studios were founded in 1923 and the first phase of their rivalry began in 1930s. Disney won it hands down with their Mickey Mouse family of characters like Mickey Mouse himself, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and so on.

Warner Bros. technically came first, though the two entertainment giants were founded within months of each other in the same year. Warner Bros. Pictures was officially incorporated on April 4, 1923, by brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, evolving from their previous ventures in film distribution. The Walt Disney Company (originally the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio) was founded by Walt and Roy Disney on October 16, 1923. While Warner Bros. initially focused on live-action features and achieved early fame with the first "talkie," The Jazz Singer, Disney revolutionized the animation industry with Mickey Mouse in 1928. Both companies celebrated their 100th anniversaries in 2023, marking a century of rivalry and innovation. Interestingly, before the official founding of the Disney studio, Walt Disney had a prior venture called Laugh-O-Gram Studio in 1921, but it went bankrupt, leading to the "fresh start" in 1923 that we know today as the global Disney empire.