Tinker Bell (also known as "Tinkerbell" in common usage), is a fictional character in J.M. Barrie's play and subsequent novel Peter and Wendy, as well as numerous adaptations including the widely known animated Disney film Peter Pan. In the original book and play, Tinker Bell is described as a common fairy who mends pots and kettles, i.e. a tinker, and is often referred to simply as "Tink". Though sometimes ill-behaved and vindictive, at other times she is helpful and kind to Peter (for whom she apparently has romantic feelings). The extremes in her personality are explained in-story by the fact that a fairy's size prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time. Tinker Bell, like other fairies in Barrie's works, can make it possible for others to fly, by sprinkling them with fairy dust.

Barrie's fairies are dependent on the belief of others to survive. In one famous scene, she is dying, but will survive if enough people believe in fairies. In the play the characters make a plea to the children watching to sustain her by shouting out "I believe in fairies," and clapping, an example of "breaking the fourth wall." In the novel and the 2003 film, Peter calls out to dreaming children within the storytelling universe to believe in her. At the end of the novel, when Peter returns to the Darling home after a year in Neverland, it is revealed that Tinker Bell "is no more" since "fairies don't live long, but they are so small that a short time seems a good while to them." Peter has forgotten her. Screen adaptations of the story omit this scene.

Although originally just a supporting character in Barrie's story, she has become widely known beyond this context. This is especially true of her interpretation by the Walt Disney Company, who have long used her as a mascot and later established the Disney Fairies media franchise around her. The character's name is often used as a synonym for fairy.

Tinker Bell is an upcoming 2008 direct-to-video computer animated film based on the Disney Fairies franchise being produced by DisneyToon Studios. The movie was delayed for a year after John Lasseter, creative head of Walt Disney Feature Animation made several comments and complained that the film was "virtually unwatchable" blank">IMDB news and that it would hurt both Walt Disney Feature Animation as well as the _Disney Consumer Products line it was meant to support. It has been reported that the complications surrounding this movie are the reasons that Disney will no longer produce straight-to-DVD sequels.

The film revolves around the Tinker Bell, a fairy character created by J. M. Barrie in his play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and featured in the 1953 Disney animated film, Peter Pan. Mae Whitman will provide the voice for the fairy in this film. This will also be the first time that the Disney version of Tinker Bell will talk.