Barbie is an American multimedia franchise created by Mattel based on the eponymous fashion doll created by its co-founder, Ruth Handler. It began with the release of an eponymous video game in 1984 and has since been featured in more video games, a film series and in other media formats across technologies like television and the Internet. It is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time and has been referred to among fans as the "Barbie Cinematic Universe".

The film series were released direct-to-video from 2001 and aired regularly on Nickelodeon as television specials in the United States from 2002, with both running until early 2017. Since mid-2017, beginning with Barbie Dolphin Magic, Mattel revamped them into streaming television films, branded or marketed them as animated "specials" with a reduced 1-hour video length as opposed to the feature films beforehand and moved them to streaming media services, Netflix, but also including Amazon Prime Video, Google Play and Apple TV+. These films released from late 2017 onwards could still be released on home video formats, locally, or get picked up for television broadcast in multiple countries and regions/territories. Aside from the film series, Barbie has been featured in other media formats, including two animated direct-to-video specials in Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World and its sequel, Barbie and the Sensations: Rockin' Back to Earth, both in 1987, web series like Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, Barbie: Vlogger, Barbie Dreamtopia, Barbie's Dreamworld and Barbie: Life in the City, television shows like Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie: It Takes Two and Barbie: A Touch of Magic, a live-action film and an interactive film.

Barbie debuted on March 9, 1959, at the American International Toy Fair (now the North American International Toy Fair) and it was well received locally in the United States, sparking a revolution in the toy industry. Since then, numerous likenesses of the doll were released which later evolved into what is now considered as "Barbie's friends and family" and clothing and accessories to accompany them. Various print hardcover and comic books starring Barbie were also released through partnerships and/or deals with Dell Comics, Marvel Comics and currently Papercutz.

In the 1980s, the net popularity and sales of Barbie dolls in the toy market began to decline and struggled further in 2001 when MGA Entertainment introduced a line of dolls under the name Bratz, whose sexualized characters contrasted with Barbie's older, chaste image. Mattel therefore attempted to overhaul the Barbie brand to keep the toy relevant to consumers in the modern age by bringing in consultants and conducting research on key market groups. Mattel consultants initially considered reducing the Barbie's breast size, but later claimed that the doll's figure could not be changed because "being consistent is one of her biggest strengths". Mattel's team also considered targeting market audiences of career women and their daughters by introducing lines of Doctor or Lawyer Barbies. However, Mattel's research showed that girls were spending more time online than playing with physical dolls. Therefore, targeted career Barbies were discarded in favor of looking for more interactive platforms through online or digital media.

In response, Mattel began adapting Barbie into various facets of media and entertainment beyond the television advertisement of its dolls and related accessories (which was a prolific marketing strategy in the past). For the first 16 entries in the film series, Barbie is featured as a virtual actress playing the main character, and often being portrayed as a modern girl telling the story to one of her sisters or a younger friend – as a parable to present affairs. Scholars examining how the Barbie films differ from other princess narratives have concluded that Mattel intentionally attempted to remediate its brand based on feminist criticisms through storytelling in the films.

In 1987, Mattel produced two television specials with DIC Animation City and Saban Productions; Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World and its sequel Barbie and the Sensations: Rockin' Back to Earth, both featuring Barbie as the leader of a rock band (often seen as being Mattel's answer to rival fashion doll Jem from Hasbro); Mattel had previously avoided media projects for Barbie “for fear of giving Barbie a cartoon-type personality and not leaving anything to the imagination”. Though often speculated to be potential pilots for a regular Barbie series, no series ever happened. Instead, both specials were released direct-to-video by Hi-Tops Video, the children's division of Media Home Entertainment. Another planned series for the fall of 1987 by the newly formed Mattel division MTS Entertainment was, unusually, a newsmagazine aimed at kids and teenagers, intended to feature both live-action and animated segments. Due to a flooded syndication market for children, the series never progressed, beyond a presentation at the 1987 NATPE convention.

With the boom of home video marketing at the time, Mattel launched an eponymous in-house entertainment division in 2001 and began the creation of the Barbie films with the direct-to-video release of Barbie in the Nutcracker. The films initially revolved around Barbie being re-imagined as a princess and eventually expanded into various worlds of fashion and fantasy. A primary benefit of this strategy revolved around marketing, as Mattel could sell dolls specific to each film separately from the video sales and merchandise related to props, costumes and sets from the films.

Tim Kilpin, then-senior vice-president for girls marketing at Mattel, stated: "What you see now are several different Barbie worlds anchored by content and storytelling. A girl can understand what role Barbie is playing, what the other characters are doing, and how they interrelate. That's a much richer level of story that leads to a richer level of play." The strategy worked as U.S. Barbie sales, led by the princess line, "increased by two percent in 2006, saving Mattel's bottom line at a time when its worldwide share of the toy market was declining." Within the films, Mattel included performances by well-known companies and orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic and the New York City Ballet. These associations could have been included as an enrichment strategy on behalf of Mattel's marketing team to help the films be seen as educational.