Where To Find The Little Mermaid Animated Movie’s Kermit The Frog Cameo

Some of Disney’s classic animated movies have hidden Easter eggs from other Disney movies and some even have cameos from other characters, and falling into the latter category is The Little Mermaid, which counted on the presence of none other than Kermit the Frog. In 1989, The Little Mermaid kicked off what’s now known as the Disney Renaissance, the period from the late 1980s to the late 1990s during which Disney returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated movies, mostly musical adaptations of popular stories, as it did during the Walt Disney era from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, and based on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale of the same name, The Little Mermaid tells the story of Ariel, a young mermaid princess who dreams of becoming human and falls in love with human prince Eric, who she saves after a storm wrecks his ship. Ariel’s desires catch the attention of sea witch Ursula, who makes a deal with her to turn her into a human in exchange for her voice. Like every other Disney animated movie, The Little Mermaid is packed with small details that elevate the viewing experience, but it also has a fun yet very easy-to-miss cameo from the legendary Kermit the Frog and other well-known Disney characters.

Kermit The Frog Appears In The Little Mermaid’s Opening Sequence

The Little Mermaid opens with a brief musical moment courtesy of Eric’s crew at their ship before taking the audience to the bottom of the ocean to meet King Triton, as he hosted a big event at his palace, with all the mermaids and mermen attending. King Triton made a big entrance in a carriage pulled by dolphins, flying over the audience and lighting up the chandelier above the stage. It’s during that scene, while flying over the attendees, that Kermit the Frog can be found, but it’s a bit tricky to catch him not just because King Triton flies by quickly but because Kermit is almost hidden in the shadows, and thus blends easily with the rest of the surrounding characters.

Speaking to Insider in 2019 about The Little Mermaid’s 30th anniversary, co-director Ron Clements explained Kermit shows up at the big event at King Triton’s palace thanks to an animator (though he couldn’t remember their name) who added the famous Muppet as “a little inside joke”, though Clements believes the animator “did it for himself”, but neither he nor Musker opposed to it and actually found it very funny. Clements added that, as directors, he and Musker don’t put that type of things themselves, and these fun Easter eggs and more usually come from the animators, layout artists, or background painters.

The Little Mermaid Hides Other Disney Cameos

Kermit the Frog isn’t the only celebrity hiding among the crowd at King Triton’s palace during his big entrance, and the three biggest and most famous best friends in Disney’s history are also in attendance: Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Donald. Just like Kermit, they are very easy to miss due to how fast King Triton flies over the audience, and they appear a bit too close to the King, so even though they are not covered by the shadows like Kermit, they are hard to catch unless you pause or slow down the scene. Other fun discoveries in that same scene are a mermaid who seems to be wearing Mickey Mouse ears, a merman with antennae on his head, and another one wearing sunglasses. The animators of The Little Mermaid surely had fun while working on this now-classic movie, and they left a bunch of fun details for the audience to discover.