Walt Disney (Saving Mr. Banks character)

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney is a main character of the 2013 biographical drama film, Saving Mr. Banks, based on the real-life filmmaker of the same name. In 1961, Disney is the president of Walt Disney Productions, and has spent two decades struggling to acquire the film rights to the 1934 novel, Mary Poppins, from its author, P. L. Travers. Though his studio lacks the film rights, he puts the film in pre-production, with co-writer Don DaGradi and songwriters Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman heading the creative team.

In the film, Travers is portrayed by Tom Hanks. Though based on the real Disney, several elements of the film's depiction of his relationship with Travers are dramatized and fictionalized. In reality, Disney was vacationing in Palm Springs for much of Travers' visit and was not present for much of the scenes he is depicted in. Much of the dialogue between Travers and Disney in the film occurred by way of letters and telephone correspondence between the two. Notably, Disney already had the film rights to Mary Poppins before Travers even arrived at the studio in Burbank to consult with the production team.