When You Wish upon a Star

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When You Wish upon a Star is a popular song, written by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline and published in 1940.

The song was introduced in the Walt Disney movie Pinocchio, a 1940 film, where it is sung by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket (Danish: Jesper Fårekylling). The song won the Academy Award for Best Song that year, and has become so prevalent that in many Disney films, the formation of the Disney logo is accompanied by a slightly different arrangement of the notes that the title line are sung to. The American Film Institute ranked it seventh in their list of the 100 Greatest Songs in Film History, and it has the distinction of being the highest ranked Disney song on the list.

Both of the Disney Lines's cruise ships, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, are now equipped with airhorns that play the first seven notes of "When You Wish Upon A Star". Also, the PA system on both ships play the first seven notes before an announcement. On the direct-to-video/album release Simply Mad About the Mouse, a rotoscoped Billy Joel sings the song.

In Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the song has become a Christmas song, often referring to the Star of Bethlehem. The Swedish language version is called Ser du stjärnan i det blå, roughly translated: "(do you) see the star in the blue (heaven)", and the Danish title is Når du ser et stjerneskud, also roughly translated into: "When you see a falling star". A Japanese translation of the song called 'Hoshi ni negai o', roughly translated 'Wish upon a Star, appeared on one of the two Sailor Moon Christmas albums.

Preceded by "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz

Academy Award for Best Song 1940

Succeeded by "The Last Time I Saw Paris" from Lady Be Good