With Walt, there's also the context that he was the founder and CEO of the company who chose to make himself a very public spokesperson for the company for many decades, including regular TV appearances on Disney's weekly national TV show - all in an era where few CEOs were public figures outside financial markets. And many of his appearances went far beyond the role of CEO to include playing host, product demonstrator and marketing spokesperson.
He clearly had no problem with representing the company and actively promoting Disney theme parks, movies and products with his image. Even while he was alive Disney Corp sold high-end memorabilia like large framed pictures of Walt working at his drawing board and including his distinctive signature. So he not only promoted products but turned himself into a revenue generating product. In some sense, he made himself a mascot for his company as much as Mickey Mouse and this was clearly by design. To me that's different than a CEO who mostly limited his public exposure to the usual earnings calls and shareholder's meetings.
To me it does because his actions while alive clearly establish a consistent pattern of behavior which indicates he would not have any issue with the company he founded and dedicated most of his life to using his likeness to honor him (while also making money). As far as we know, he didn't sign an explicit license for use of his likeness. Although he may have, like for those memorabilia framed/signed photo sales), but either way he certainly established an implicit license by creating and supporting products for Disney using his likeness while alive. Under common law, often voluntarily acting on something repeatedly and consistently tends to establish intent in the absence of a written contract.
If it existed, would such an explicit license extend to derivative usages like this? Probably not legally but I think ethically it does sharply reduce the likelihood Disney is acting against what Walt would have wanted.
He clearly had no problem with representing the company and actively promoting Disney theme parks, movies and products with his image. Even while he was alive Disney Corp sold high-end memorabilia like large framed pictures of Walt working at his drawing board and including his distinctive signature. So he not only promoted products but turned himself into a revenue generating product. In some sense, he made himself a mascot for his company as much as Mickey Mouse and this was clearly by design. To me that's different than a CEO who mostly limited his public exposure to the usual earnings calls and shareholder's meetings.