After the release of the first Kingdom Hearts game, Disney was planning on making an animated series based on the game. A full-color, voice-acted animatic pilot for the show was produced and received well, but ultimately the show was never made. Since Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II were formally announced around the time the pilot was made, Disney opted for Square-Enix to continue the story with more games rather than through an in-house animated series.

In 2022, the animatic pilot was uploaded online by its director Seth Kearsley.