In the 1940 film *Fantasia*, the "main characters" (those who are established as having a relationship or who interact across the film's segments and framing) know each other from three distinct contexts: narrative, meta-narrative, and real-world production.
### 1. Mickey Mouse and Yen Sid: The Master-Apprentice Relationship
In the film's most famous segment, *"The Sorcerer's Apprentice,"* Mickey Mouse and the sorcerer **Yen Sid** know each other through a formal **master and apprentice** relationship.
* **The Setting:** They reside and work together in the Sorcerer’s workshop/cavern.
* **The Lore:** This relationship is based on **Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1797 poem** *Der Zauberlehrling*. While the film doesn't provide a backstory on how they met, Yen Sid is depicted as a stern mentor, and Mickey is a "bright young lad" who has been tasked with remedial chores (like carrying water) while learning the "business" of magic.
* **Specific Detail:** The character Yen Sid was created specifically for the film; his name is "**Disney**" spelled backward, and he was modeled after Walt Disney himself—specifically the "stern glare" Walt would give his animators when he was displeased.
### 2. Mickey Mouse and Leopold Stokowski: Co-Stars of the "Concert Feature"
At the end of the *Sorcerer's Apprentice* segment, Mickey Mouse crosses the "fourth wall" into the live-action framing of the film to interact with the conductor, **Leopold Stokowski**.
* **Where they know each other from:** Within the logic of the film, they are **colleagues** or **fellow performers** in the same "Concert Feature."
* **The Meeting:** In a famous silhouette sequence, Mickey walks up to the conductor’s podium, shakes hands with Stokowski, and they address each other by name. Mickey says, "Mr. Stokowski! Mr. Stokowski!" and Stokowski replies, "Mickey! Congratulations!" This establishes that they "know" each other as the stars of the production.
### 3. Leopold Stokowski and Deems Taylor: Radio Colleagues
The two live-action "main characters"—conductor **Leopold Stokowski** and narrator/MC **Deems Taylor**—knew each other from their professional lives in the **New York classical music and radio scene**.
* **Specific Detail:** Both men were prominent figures associated with the **New York Philharmonic**. Deems Taylor was famously the intermission commentator for the orchestra's radio broadcasts, and Stokowski was a world-renowned guest conductor.
* **Walt Disney’s Role:** Walt Disney specifically chose Taylor to be the film's Master of Ceremonies because he and Stokowski had both heard Taylor’s radio commentary and felt his authoritative yet accessible voice was the perfect bridge between the music and the audience.
### 4. Walt Disney and Leopold Stokowski: Chasen’s Restaurant
In terms of the film's actual origin, the two "main characters" who created the project knew each other from a chance meeting at **Chasen's restaurant in Hollywood** in 1937.
* Walt Disney was dining there when he ran into Stokowski. They sat together, and Walt pitched the idea for a prestige Mickey Mouse short set to classical music. This encounter turned a simple cartoon into the ambitious feature-length experiment that became *Fantasia*.