Laura Horton is a fictional character from the NBC soap opera, Days of Our Lives, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional, United States town of Salem. Created by writer Peggy Phillips, Laura's storylines focus on family troubles. She is a member of the series' Horton family. Laura's marriage to Mickey Horton was a big part of the characters' history. She was also married to his brother, Bill. Many of Laura's storylines have also revolved around her mental health issues. Laura was initially portrayed by Floy Dean from June to October 1966, before Susan Flannery stepped in, portraying Laura from November 1966 to May 1975. Susan Oliver then portrayed Laura from October 1975 to June 1976, followed by Rosemary Forsyth from August 1976 to March 1980. The character then took a hiatus until 1993, when the role was recast with Jaime Lyn Bauer, who played Laura from November 1993 to July 1999. Bauer returned as Laura for brief stints in 2003, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2021. Cady McClain also briefly portrayed the role in flashbacks in February 2021.

Days of Our Lives is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from 1965 to 2022 and currently streams new episodes on Peacock. The soap is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday since November 8, 1965. A co-production of Corday Productions and Sony Pictures Television, the series was created by husband-and-wife team Ted Corday and Betty Corday. During Days of Our Lives' early years, Irna Phillips served as a story editor for the program and many of the show's earliest storylines were written by William J. Bell, who would depart the series in 1975 to focus full-time on The Young and the Restless, which he created for CBS in 1973. Following the 2007 cancellation of Passions, Days of Our Lives remained the only soap opera airing on NBC. On August 3, 2022, NBCUniversal announced that it would relocate the series exclusively to its Peacock streaming service beginning September 12 after 57 years on the network and leaving NBC as the only Big Three network without a daytime serial.