In 1997, it became apparent to Disney that the company had so many cartoons in its archives, and too many cartoons to put on the Disney Channel's growing schedule, that they decided to make a Cartoon Network of their own. On April 18, 1998, the day of the Disney Channel's 15th birthday, Toon Disney, a 24-hour home to all Disney cartoons that had been made at the time (and some they had acquired, mostly by DiC Entertainment) was officially launched.
Initially, the main focus of Toon Disney's line-up went to the cartoons that had been around right when it started up, the Classic Disney Shorts and the syndicated weekday afternoon shows that had been featured on The Disney Afternoon, along with their Saturday morning fare. As time went on, shows from Disney's more recent children's programming block, Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC, soon joined the channel as well, and thus certain changes were made to balance the schedule between the two eras of Disney TV cartoons.
However, in recent years, Toon Disney became more (in)famous for its severe case of Network Decay, and the process that led to its overhaul. On February 14, 2004, Jetix, the result of Disney buying out Saban and Fox Kids, began airing in prime-time, consisting of poorly-dubbed anime that had nothing to do with Disney other than being owned by the company and, of all things, Power Rangers, which certainly wasn't exactly a cartoon.
At first, Jetix was only a two-hour block (that also aired on ABC Family; they dropped it after two years), but the block chose to expand themselves and took up more and more of the networks' hours. Because of Jetix's expanding, the old Disney cartoons that once made up the majority of the channel's schedule were all dropped one by one in favor of running contemporary shows from the regular Disney Channel that had not even been canceled yet. The channel then began airing live-action movies (a trait that would soon taint Cartoon Network as well), soon adding The Suite Life of Zack and Cody to their regular schedule as well. In the Jetix programming, Toon Disney ran reruns of cartoons based on Marvel Comics superheroes, most likely to cash in on The Movies that the characters were now starring in. In addition, Jetix picked up reruns of Batman the Animated Series, Pinky and The Brain, and Superman the Animated Series, completely ignoring the fact that those cartoons were produced by Disney's biggest competitor, Warner Bros
In 2008, Disney announced that, due to the channel's demographic preferring to instead watch Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon they were dropping Toon Disney and replacing it with an all-boys' network called Disney XD, come February 13, 2009. In other words, Toon Disney has effectively become Jetix, albeit without the Jetix name.
Disney cartoons that have aired on Toon Disney:
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians: The Series (1998-2007)
- Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1998-2001)
- Aladdin (1998-2009)
- American Dragon Jake Long (2006-2009)
- Bonkers (1998-2004, 2007)
- Brandy and Mr. Whiskers (2006-2009)
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2003-2009)
- The Buzz on Maggie (2006-2007)
- Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (1998-2009)
- Darkwing Duck (1998-2007)
- Dave the Barbarian (2005-2009)
- Disney's Doug (2001-2005)
- DuckTales (1998-2008)
- The Emperors New School (2006-2009)
- Fillmore (2003-2009)
- Gargoyles (1998-2009)
- Goof Troop (1998-2008)
- Hercules: The Series (2000-2008)
- House of Mouse (2002-2009)
- Jungle Cubs (1998-2001)
- Kim Possible (2004-2009)
- The Legend of Tarzan (2003-2009)
- Lilo and Stitch The Series (2006-2009)
- The Little Mermaid (1998-2009)
- Lloyd in Space (2002-2007)
- Marsupilami (1998-2001)
- The Mighty Ducks (1998-2008)
- The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1998-2008)
- Pepper Ann (2001-2007)
- Phineas and Ferb (2008-2009)
- The Proud Family (2004-2009)
- Quack Pack (1998-2007)
- Recess (2003-2009)
- The Replacements (2007-2009)
- The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show (1998-2007)
- Tale Spin (1998-2008)
- Teachers Pet (2002-2006)
- Teamo Supremo (2002-2006)
- Timon and Pumbaa (1998-2009)
- The Weekenders (2002-2008)
- The Wuzzles (1998-2001)
- And of course, Classic Disney Shorts (1998-2000)
Non-Disney cartoons that came on Toon Disney/Jetix/Disney XD:
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1998-2002)
- All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (2006)
- Alpha Teens On Machines (2004-2005)
- Astor Boy (2007)
- Batman the Animated Series (2007-2009)
- Beyblade (2004-2009)
- Blazing Dragons (1999-2002)
- Bump in the Night (1998-2001)
- Care Bears (1998-2001)
- Digimon (2004-2009)
- Gadget Boy (1998-2001)
- Garfield and Friends (2003-2006)
- Get Ed (2005-2009)
- Iron Man (2008-2009)
- Jackie Chan Adventures (2006-2009)
- Kong: The Animated Series (2004-2008)
- Legend of the Dragon (2005-2007)
- Madeline (1998-2003)
- Mary Kate and Ashley In Action (2002-2003)
- Medabots (2004-2005)
- Monster Buster Club (2008-2009)
- The Mummy: The Animated Series (2008)
- Naruto Shippuden (2005-2006)
- NASCAR Racers (2006-2009)
- Pinky and The Brain (2007-2009)
- Pucca (2006-2009)
- Rupert (2001-2002)
- Sabrina the Animated Series
- Sabrina's Secret Life
- Silverwing
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series
- Spider-Man Unlimited
- Super Dave
- Superman the Animated Series
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
- The Tick
- Toad Patrol
- Ultimate Book of Spells
- X-Men
- W.I.T.C.H.
- What a Mess
- Yin Yang Yo