[2] Later on, other Disney executives had made efforts to translate this material to the big screen, however these proposals were all shelved due to similar issues.

[1] In 2008, Chris Buck pitched Disney his version of the story[3] called Anna and the Snow Queen, which was planned to be traditionally animated.

[4] This version was "completely different" from Frozen; it had a storyline that stuck much closer to the original material and featured an entirely different Olaf character, the role more resembling Marshmallow's.

[7] The new script, which employed "the same concept but was completely rewritten",[4] finally solved the long-term problem with Andersen's story by depicting Anna and Elsa as sisters.

[8] Josh Gad, a Tony-nominated actor best known for his performance as Elder Cunningham in Broadway's The Book of Mormon (which was co-written by the Frozen's co-songwriter Robert Lopez), was cast to voice Olaf.

[11] Having been involved in reading for the part of Olaf when the project was titled Anna and the Snow Queen, Gad was disappointed when it failed to be greenlit.

When Walt Disney Animation attempted the Snow Queen project again, songwriting team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez joined the production and began campaigning for Gad to return to the cast.

Gad was released from his obligation to Dreamworks when its project failed due to story complications, which meant that he was free to rejoin the cast of Frozen.

"I grew up during the second golden age of Disney animation, when every movie that came out was an event – The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King," he said.

[9] Impressed by the performances of comedic relief sidekicks such as Timon and Pumbaa in The Lion King, or the Genie in Aladdin, Gad set the goal to play characters of this type since his early age.

[17] "Olaf was very much a sketch until we had Josh Gad, and then we would just get in the room and play and we'd have a lot of fun and that's really how we found his voice specifically and how he looks at the world.

"[19] "It was a lot funnier than I expected, thanks largely to Josh Gad's surprisingly well-written deluded snowman character" (Del Vecho).

"[16] The filmmakers developed a new software called Spaces to aid artists in deconstructing Olaf and rebuilding him as part of the animation process.

Anna decides to find Elsa and after meeting Kristoff and Sven, they cross paths with Olaf while traveling up the North Mountain.

After Elsa dissipates the eternal winter and reestablishes herself as queen, she creates a snow cloud for Olaf so that he can fulfill his dream of experiencing summer without melting.

Olaf appears in the short film Frozen Fever where he is caught stuffing a piece of cake into his mouth by Elsa.

At the end of the special, he is seen helping Kristoff and Sven escort the snowgies to live with Marshmallow at the ice palace on the North Mountain.

Olaf stars in a 21-minute Frozen holiday film along with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Sven, which debuted in theaters for a limited time engagement[23] with Disney·Pixar's Coco on November 22, 2017.

Olaf is particularly excited to start the festivities, but when it comes time for the party to begin, all the guests leave after the annual ringing of the Yule bell in the castle courtyard.

Meanwhile, Sven informs Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa of Olaf's encounter with the wolves, and a search party is organized to find the missing snowman.

It is revealed that during the years that they were separated, Anna would create drawings of Olaf (and on one occasion, a doll), and slide them under Elsa's door each Christmas as a reminder of their childhood and the love they have for each other.

The sisters then lead Olaf and their subjects onto a frozen lake beneath the northern lights to host a holiday party and create a giant Christmas tree made of ice.

[34][35] Josh Gad reprises his role in the English dub of the game, while in the original Japanese version he was initially voiced by Pierre Taki, later being reddubed by Shunsuke Takeuchi in an update patch.

[45][46] Beginning May 22, 2015, Disneyland debuted a new nighttime parade called "Paint the Night", which includes a Frozen float featuring Anna, Elsa, and Olaf, as part of the park's 60th anniversary celebration.

He first appears alongside Sven, inviting guests to Elsa's ice palace to the tune of "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?".

David Crow of Den of Geek described Olaf as a "cute little sidekick" and felt that the character was loaded with "earnest sincerity".

[51] In an IGN review of the film, Chris Carle described Josh Gad's performance as "consistently hilarious" and praised his "perfectly timed" voice work and Olaf's "show-stopping" song.