When You Wish Upon a Star is a 1940 song written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington for Disney's animated film Pinocchio, based on Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio. The original version was sung by Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket and plays over the opening credits and the final scene; the song was released as a single in 1940 from Pinocchio - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, after being recorded in 1939 for Decca. The track is a soundtrack and traditional pop ballad, and its hopeful lyric invites listeners to wish upon a star. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1940 and is widely regarded as Disney's signature tune, used in logos and branding since the 1980s. The song has been recorded by many artists, was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2009, and was ranked seventh on AFI's 100 Greatest Songs in Film History.
