How “Runaway Brain” came to be, and why it’s been deemed a forbidden object in the years since, is one of the weirder stories in modern Disney history. The short is not locked in the Disney Vault, it’s seemingly buried underneath it in a lead-lined box.

Despite being nominated for an Oscar in 1996, playing out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival that May, and being, at the time, the first true Mickey Mouse theatrical short to play for theatrical audiences in more than 40 years has been all but erased from existence. Noticeably absent from the synergistic festivities, however, was the unearthing of the 1995’s “Runaway Brain,” which fans of Disney Animation have longed to see again.

Mickey’s entire career was celebrated company-wide for a full year, honoring his debut in “Steamboat Willie” in 1928 through his iconic appearance as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in Walt Disney’s masterpiece Fantasia and more recent accomplishments like the Oscar-nominated short “Get a Horse” and the wildly popular Paul Rudish TV series. There was a 16,000-foot art exhibition in New York, a primetime TV special on ABC led by Kristen Bell and Dwayne Johnson, and a number of high profile collaborations with brands like Coach, Vans, and Marc Jacobs. In 2018, Disney celebrated Mickey Mouse’s 90th birthday with a cavalcade of cross promotions.

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