After finishing his education, Strobl became impressed enough by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to seek a job at Walt Disney Studios. After a refusal, he eventually was hired in 1938. He worked as an animator on Fantasia, Dumbo, and Pinocchio before he left the studio to fight in World War II. In 1942, Strobl saved a seven-year-old girl from drowning while working for an Army propaganda unit. He returned to animation after the war, but moved over to the comics field, and after a few commercial artist jobs, he started working for Western Publishing in 1947.