Public Domain Cartoon Characters: 20 Best + Full List

Public domain cartoon characters are one of my favorite rabbit holes. Every January, a fresh batch of old cartoons loses copyright protection and becomes free for anyone to use.

The problem is that there is a lot of confusion about which characters are truly free, and which ones still belong to Disney and friends.

So I pulled together my top 20, with the year each one entered the public domain, plus a set of full tables at the end with close to 100 characters in total. I also want to clear up the mistakes I see people make over and over.

What Public Domain Means For a Cartoon Character

Here is the short version. In the United States, these old cartoons get 95 years of copyright protection. After that, the work enters the public domain and anyone can use it without asking permission or paying a fee. No license, no lawyers, no royalties.

That is the law working the way it was designed to. Creators get a long window to profit from what they made, and then the work belongs to everyone. If you want the deep legal breakdown, Duke University’s Public Domain Day page tracks every year’s new arrivals in plain language, and the U.S. Copyright Office covers the rules themselves.

The Mistake Almost Everyone Makes

This is the part people get wrong, so read this before you reuse any character.

It is the original version that goes free, not the version you picture in your head today. Take Mickey Mouse. Only the 1928 Steamboat Willie Mickey is public domain. That is the rougher, black-and-white mouse with pie-eyes and no gloves. The polished modern Mickey, with his red shorts and white gloves and rounded look, is still under copyright and will be for years.

Fairy tales trip people up the same way. Cinderella, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland are old stories that have been free for a very long time. But Disney’s movie versions are not. You can write your own Cinderella story all day long.

You cannot copy Disney’s 1950 Cinderella design. There is a fun irony here, since Disney built its early empire on free public domain fairy tales, then fought hard to keep its own versions locked up.

Then there is trademark, which is a separate thing from copyright. Even after copyright ends, a company can still hold a trademark on a character’s name and logo. That can stop you from selling merch that looks like it came from them. Disney still guards the modern Mickey as a brand, and that protection has no expiration date.

So when you see “is Bugs Bunny public domain” floating around, the answer is no. Now let me get to the ones that are free.

Entered public domain: 2024

This is the big one. The Mickey from Steamboat Willie, the 1928 black-and-white short, went public domain in 2024. That is the rascal Mickey, not the cuddly modern one. You can build on that early version, but Disney still owns everything that came after, plus the trademark on his name.

I have noticed a lot of people assume the modern Disney Mickey, the cheerful one on every lunchbox and theme-park sign, is free now. He is not, and that mix-up could land someone in real legal trouble. Only the 1928 version is fair game. Growing up, Mickey was everywhere for me, on cereal boxes, birthday cards, bed sheets, the works, so it still feels strange that any version of him belongs to the public now. The Steamboat Willie Mickey also has a completely different vibe.

He is mischievous and a little mean, much closer to a silent-film troublemaker than the friendly mascot we all grew up with.

Entered public domain: 2024

Minnie rode in on the same boat. Her 1928 Steamboat Willie version is free too. Same rule as Mickey applies, so stick to the early design and keep an eye on the trademark when it comes to products. I always found it neat that Minnie was there from the very first frame, never an afterthought, even back in 1928.

Entered public domain: 2025

Popeye first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip in 1929, so that original sailor went free in 2025. The catch trips a lot of people up. The 1933 Fleischer cartoon Popeye, the spinach-chugging version most of us picture, is still under copyright for a few more years.

Popeye reruns were a staple for me, and the spinach gag never once got old. It is funny that the version everyone quotes, the gravel-voiced sailor punching his way out of trouble after a can of spinach, is the 1933 cartoon that is still locked up. The 1929 comic Popeye is rougher and meaner, more street brawler than hero. If you want to use Popeye legally right now, that is the version you have to work from.

Entered public domain: 2026

Betty is the newest big name on the list. Her first cartoon, Dizzy Dishes, came out in 1930, so that version went free in 2026. Here is a fun bit most people do not know: the 1930 Betty was part dog, with floppy ears instead of her famous hoop earrings. Fleischer Studios pushed back hard and argued she is not really free, but that is the same losing argument the Sherlock Holmes estate once tried.

I have a soft spot for Betty. She was one of the first cartoon characters with real adult attitude, made before the strict content rules of the mid-1930s sanded her down. The early shorts are strange and dreamlike in a way modern cartoons rarely attempt. If you have never watched Dizzy Dishes, it is worth ten minutes of your time, even just to see how bold animation was willing to be back then.

Entered public domain: 2023

Oswald was Walt Disney’s first real star, before Mickey existed. Disney lost the rights to him in a famous deal, and that loss is the whole reason Mickey got created. The 1927 Oswald shorts entered the public domain in 2023.

There is a real lesson in Oswald for any creator. Disney lost him over a contract dispute, went home, and built Mickey out of equal parts spite and necessity. The character he lost is now free for everyone, and the one he built to replace it became the most fiercely protected mascot in the world. I think about that whenever someone tells me losing a project is the end of the road.

Status: long public domain

Felix is older than all of them. He first appeared around 1919, so his early silent shorts have been free for years. He is one of the safest classic characters to play with, as long as you stick to those early cartoons and not the later redesigns.

Felix does not get the love he deserves anymore. Before Mickey ever existed, he was the most famous cartoon character on the planet. That sly grin, and the way he could pull objects out of thin air and bend them into whatever he needed, shaped a huge amount of what came after him. If you like animation history at all, he is worth a deeper look.

Status: long public domain

Koko came out of Max Fleischer’s Out of the Inkwell series around 1918. Those early shorts are long past copyright. He does not get talked about much now, but he was a huge deal in early animation and the rotoscope technique that came with him, which is the same trick Fleischer later used on Betty Boop and Popeye.

Status: long public domain

Gertie is a piece of history. Winsor McCay drew her in 1914, and she is often called the first cartoon character with a real personality. She has been free for a very long time, and she is a lovely pick if you want something with genuine vintage weight behind it.

Entered public domain: 2026

Pluto is a 2026 arrival with a twist. His debut was as an unnamed dog in the 1930 short The Chain Gang, and that version is free. The fully formed Pluto that Disney built up later is a different matter, and Mickey’s actual ownership of him did not lock in until a 1931 short. So tread carefully here and stick to the 1930 appearance.

Entered public domain: 2026

Flip is an Ub Iwerks creation, and Iwerks helped design Mickey before he left Disney to go solo. Flip’s first sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, came out in 1930 and went free in 2026. He is a fun choice if you want something recognizable to animation buffs but not overused by everyone else.

Entered public domain: 2026

Bimbo is Betty Boop’s little dog companion, and he came first. His debut, Hot Dog, was a 1930 short, so he joined the public domain alongside the early Betty in 2026. If you want the pair, you can use both from that year, which makes for a nice ready-made duo.

Entered public domain: 2025

Bosko was the very first Looney Tunes star, back in 1929, long before Bugs or Daffy. Several of his early shorts are now in the public domain. If you want a true Looney Tunes deep cut that is free to use, this is the one, since the famous stars are still locked up tight for over a decade more.

Entered public domain: 2025

Horace is one of Mickey’s oldest sidekicks. He showed up in 1929, so that early version went free in 2025. He is a great example of a character almost nobody thinks about that is fair game right now, which makes him perfect if you want a Disney-adjacent look without the legal headache.

Entered public domain: 2026

Clarabelle is another early Mickey supporting player. Her earliest appearances put her in the public domain in 2026. Like the rest of the old Disney crew, only that early version counts, and the modern one stays protected.

Entered public domain: 2021

Pete is the oldest Disney character of them all. He started as a villain back in 1925, before Mickey even existed, so his earliest version has been free since 2021. Most people have no idea the Disney villain predates the Disney hero, which makes him a fun bit of trivia and a free design all at once.

Status: early shorts public domain

Krazy Kat started as a newspaper comic in 1913 and moved into animation soon after. The early cartoon shorts are in the public domain. The strip itself is treated as a genuine work of art by a lot of critics, so this one carries real weight if you want something with a bit of prestige behind it.

Status: long public domain

Farmer Al Falfa was Paul Terry’s early star, dating to around 1916. His silent shorts are long free. He is obscure now, but he helped pave the way for the Terrytoons studio that gave us Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle later on.

Status: long public domain

Little Nemo is Winsor McCay again, with a 1911 animated short based on his gorgeous comic strip. It is one of the oldest animated characters you can freely use, and the artwork still looks stunning more than a century later. McCay was decades ahead of his time.

Entered public domain: 2025

This one is a short rather than a single character, but the dancing skeletons from the 1929 Silly Symphony went free in 2025. They are perfect for spooky projects, and they are pure early Disney from the days before the studio got cautious. I love that something this playful is now open to everyone.

Status: long public domain

Mutt and Jeff started as a newspaper comic in 1907 and became animated shorts in the 1910s. Those early cartoons are long in the public domain. They count as one of the first true comic-to-cartoon crossovers, which makes them a neat footnote for any animation project, and a free one at that.

The Full Lists of Public Domain Cartoon Characters

That is my top 20, but the full picture is much bigger.

I found close to 100 characters that are free in one way or another, so I sorted them into a few lists below. One important note before the tables.

1. Newly public domain in 2026 (the 1930 versions)

2. Already public domain before 2026

3. Public-domain storybook and fairy-tale characters used in cartoons

These are not always cartoon-original, but they show up in cartoons constantly, and the source characters are public domain. If you want to use them, my advice is simple: do not copy Disney or any modern studio design. Build your own version straight from the original story.

Duke lists examples like Winnie-the-Pooh, Snow White, Cinderella, Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Robin Hood, Santa Claus, and the Oz characters, and you can read their full writeup on Duke’s Public Domain Day 2026 page.

Not public domain yet, the common mistakes

These are the ones people get wrong the most. None of them are free yet. Here is when the earliest versions are on track to enter the US public domain, assuming the law does not change again.

That is what I love about this whole topic. A century of animation is slowly opening back up to everyone, one year at a time.

The characters that built the medium are becoming ours to play with again, and that feels like the system finally doing what it was meant to do.

My advice stays the same through all of it: use the truly old versions with confidence, build your own take instead of copying a modern design, and check your own country’s rules before you publish.

Do that, and a hundred years of cartoon history is yours to enjoy.