Plot elements from the film Anastasia (1956), in which the title character is played by actress Ingrid Bergman, served as a primary source of inspiration for Anya.

Created by director and animator Don Bluth, Anya is based on the urban legend that Anastasia survived the Romanov family's execution in 1918, with writers omitting most of the tragic elements about her life in favor of a more optimistic re-telling.

Basing her appearance on actresses Audrey Hepburn and Julia Roberts, Bluth re-designed the character several times in order to achieve a design he felt best embodied her personality.

As the most famous American depiction of the Grand Duchess, Anya's likeness has been used in a variety of tie-in media and merchandise, while publications have written about her reputation as a strong female character and role model.

Banished by Nicholas II for treason, Grigori Rasputin, a former royal advisor, sells his soul and curses the Romanovs to die,[3] leading to a political uprising against the Imperial family.

[4][5][6][7] With help from a servant boy,[8] eight-year-old Anastasia escapes across a frozen pond with her grandmother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, while Rasputin seemingly drowns in pursuit of them.

Under the ruse that they are simply trying to reunite the Grand Duchess with her family,[18] they do not disclose the reward money,[17][18] and initially fail to realize that Anya is, in fact, Anastasia.

After a sincere conversation in which Anya recalls intimate memories and reveals the locket, Marie finally declares that she is Anastasia, and the pair emotionally reunite.

[28][35] Although Anastasia was in fact murdered alongside her family in 1918 at the age of 17,[36][37][38][b] rumors of her having escaped the assassination persisted for several years, which prompted numerous impersonators to claim to be her.

[40][41] The most famous imposter was Anna Anderson,[36][42][43] whose claims were adapted into several retellings,[44] including a 1956 film (also produced by 20th Century Fox) starring actress Ingrid Bergman as Anastasia.

[50] While researching the Grand Duchess, director Don Bluth discovered she was a young woman capable of "light[ing] up the whole house"[32] and incorporated transformative elements from the plays My Fair Lady and Pygmalion into her storyline.

[40][51] Agreeing that a documentary-style film would be too dark for its intended audience, the filmmakers opted for a more fantastical re-telling but incorporated some mature elements nonetheless, such as the heroine struggling with an inner conflict,[32] while focusing on the developing romance between Anya and con-man Dimitri.

[56] Bluth originally struggled to create a suitable design for Anya, re-drawing the character hundreds of times until settling on one he felt embodied her mysterious, strong-willed nature.

[9][62][63] According to character designer Len Simon, Anya "physically looks like a princess, but has a more common way of behaving, as she doesn't remember that she belongs to a royal family".

[53][70] With Graham, Bluth and his co-director Gary Goldman persuaded Ryan by showing her a brief original sequence animated to dialogue from one of her films, the romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle (1993).

[81] Initially, Callaway had only hoped to secure a job as a backup singer,[70] as she had done for Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991),[81] but the producers were so impressed with her singing that they decided to hire her for the entire film.

[19][88][89] Wendy R. Weinstein of Film Journal International described Anya as a "witty" and "streetwise" character who is strong enough to physically fight Rasputin,[90] a sentiment shared by Nell Minow of Common Sense Media.

[92][93] James Verniere of The Boston Globe described Anya as "so sweet, charming and likable [that] it's hard to imagine anyone could wish her ill",[31] while El-Shai highlighted her as a refreshing heroine during a decade of "stereotypical 'damsel in distress' Disney Princesses".

[95] Some reviewers, such as Screen Anarchy's Sebastian Zavala Kahn, went as far as to declare Anya "one of the most memorable animated protagonists of the 90s", lauding her as a charismatic, engaging character while congratulating her creators for avoiding damsel in distress tropes commonly associated with Disney princesses.

[12] Echoing Kahn's proclamation, Leah Rozen of People described Anya as one of the best female characters of the decade, considering the role worthy of actresses Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer.

[114] Retrospectively, several critics and publications have ranked Anya among Ryan's best film performances,[115][116][117] with /Film's Samuel Stone calling it "a shame that she hasn't since enjoyed a prolific voiceover career".

[20] Mary Kunz Gokldman, writing for The Buffalo News, opined that despite finding some of her decisions questionable and unconvincing, audiences can not help but be entertained by Anya's personality.

[121] In an article for Texnews, writer Katherine Landsberg protested the character upon the film's release, criticizing Fox for apparently disrespecting Anastasia by using "flirty images of a teenybopper princess who, in reality, did not live happily ever after".

[5] In the decades since her film's release, Anya has enjoyed a reputation as a strong female character among fans, some of whom consider her to be a feminist icon and role model.

[127] According to Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly, the character has earned a cult following among "girls and young women who found [her to be] a relatable, spunky, proto-feminist heroine", in turn empowering a generation of female fans.

[48] Chloe Wintersteen of The Stanford Daily reported that, by 2020, Anastasia had "gained notoriety for being blatantly more feminist than its counterparts that center leading women around romance-driven storylines", describing Anya as a driven, empowered heroine who does not need to be saved.

[128] Writing for The New York Times, Rachel Syme quoted a fan who extolled Anya as "a strong feminist character who knew what she wanted and never took no for an answer".

[125] Naming Anastasia a "Nearly Perfect Animated Princess Film", Kate Gardner of The Mary Sue described the character as "a delightful lead" with "a tremendous amount of agency".