Is Bob Iger going to run for president? One comment about Spider-Man on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' was telling

Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Garner and Jimmy Kimmel want Disney CEO Bob Iger to run for president. Will he?

Earlier this week, Winfrey declared that Iger's "guidance and decency is exactly what the country needs right now," noting that she'd be "knocking on doors" to campaign if he were in the race. It's not an endorsement out of left field: Iger has weighed the possibility before, even discussing the idea at length with President Obama and his family.

And although he's brushed off 2020 speculation, Iger's Thursday appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" seemingly left the door open — and one particular comment was presidential indeed.

During in the interview, Iger described the behind-the-scenes magic (okay, massive financial deal) that ultimately brought Tom Holland's Spider-Man back to Disney's Marvel franchise films after talks with Sony halted and failed. "Tom reached out to people who work for me and said, 'Could I please have Bob's email address or phone number?' I said sure, have him contact me," Iger recalled. "And he did, we spoke, and he basically — he cried on the phone."

Over "awws" and laughter, he clarified, "No, no, he didn't. I felt for him, and it was clear the fans wanted all of this to happen. I made a couple of phone calls ... and then decided to call the head of Sony and said, 'We've gotta find a way to get this done.' You know what happens is, sometimes companies, when they're negotiating — or people when they're negotiating — with one another, they kind of forget there are other folks out there that actually matter."

Not a bad lesson for U.S. politicians, one could argue.

Iger, 68, has rarely, if ever, appeared on late night TV, but he's currently promoting his new memoir, "The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company." All of the book's proceeds will go toward educational initiatives. (It's perhaps worth noting that just about all presidential candidates publish memoirs before entering the race.)

Kimmel asked Iger about Winfrey's recent comments, to which Iger responded, "I will run for president if you also join Oprah" in canvassing across the country. It was a noticeably more open-ended answer than the one he recently gave Winfrey herself, simply saying "no" when she asked if he'd run.

During that same "Super Soul Sunday" conversation recorded a few days ago, Winfrey said she wishes "more than ever, every day" that Iger would join the 2020 race. He replied that he's discussed it at length the Obamas: "His kids and his wife clearly believed I had the better job," he said.

Iger, in fact, has weighed a presidential bid for years. He strongly considered running in the 2016 election, but his wife "hated the idea."

"The thought I had was coming from the patriot in me, growing up at a time when we respected our politicians not only for what they stood for but because of what they accomplished," he told Vogue in 2018. "I am horrified at the state of politics in America today."

Although Iger has said the Democratic field is too crowded for another contender, it's possible he could run as an independent or even as a Republican challenger to incumbent President Trump. In any case, he told ABC News in September that he plans to retire from Disney when his contract is up in 2021.