When You Wish Upon a Star | Film Music Central

Pinocchio “When You Wish Upon a Star” (1940)

As Disney’s second animated feature film, Pinocchio is responsible for creating one of the company’s most memorable songs. Since its release, “When You Wish Upon a Star” has become the official anthem for the Walt Disney Company (a snippet plays right before the start of every Disney movie) and has been covered numerous times. But the original version was performed by Cliff Edwards (the voice of Jiminy Cricket) and became an instant hit. In fact, “When You Wish Upon a Star” was the first Disney song to win an Academy Award, taking home the Oscar for Best Song.

The song arrives at the start of the film and takes us through the opening credits until we come to Jiminy Cricket himself, singing the last part of the song by the Pinocchio storybook.

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

The song is also reprised at the end of the film while everyone is celebrating Pinocchio’s transformation into a real boy. To be perfectly honest, this song always makes me cry every time I hear it, so much so that there are times I have to skip over it so I can watch the film without bawling.

Here’s an interesting piece of trivia: if you look closely at the background of the picture with Pinocchio’s book, you’ll see two books titled Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Both of these stories would be released as Disney films in the following decade (1951 and 1953 respectively).

What do you think of “When You Wish Upon a Star”? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!