Start with a number: $91 billion. That's what the Walt Disney Company brought in during fiscal year 2024. One company running nearly every piece of business that has anything to do with happiness — films, television, theme parks, cruise ships, streaming, ESPN, and a private island in the Bahamas. Its parks host over a hundred million visitors a year. Its streaming platform has 230 million subscribers. Its cruise fleet is expanding to 13 ships by 2031.

All of it traces back to a young man who had just gone bankrupt, riding a train, sketching a mouse.