When Pepsi enlisted the services of Walt Disney to produce its attraction for the 1964 New York World's Fair, UNICEF, which was to be the beneficiary of Pepsi's proceeds from the attraction had one request. It wanted the attraction's theme song to be in the public domain so that all the children of the world could enjoy it. The Sherman Brothers and Walt Disney agreed. So, while the audio version of the song played in the attraction is fully copyrighted, the lyrics and music are not. It's a Small World truly belongs to the children of the world.
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Walt Disney's favorite song was Feed the Birds from the film Mary Poppins. He often asked the Sherman Brothers to play it for him at the end of a stressful week. On what would have been Mr. Disney's 100th birthday on December 5, 2001, Richard Sherman decided to play the song for Mr. Disney in his very own Magic Kingdom. As Mr. Sherman performed, a lone bird swooped down onto his piano and seemed to listen to his performance. At the conclusion of the song, the crowd gasped as the bird dramatically flew away. While Mr. Sherman was unaware of the bird at the time, he now believes it was Mr. Disney's spirit itself, taking a break from his heavenly rest to enjoy his favorite song.
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While Mr. Disney's favorite song may have been Feed the Birds, the Sherman Brothers considered his unofficial theme song to be There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. Mr. Disney always believed that scientific progress and discovery could fix any problem that might arise and that the future held great promise and opportunity. The positivity found in the upbeat song and at DISNEYLAND were all due to Walt's amazing trust in the future. He truly believed in every word of the song.
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