High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated film produced by Disney Animation Studios. Released on October 18, 1967, it is the 19th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was inspired by the stories about the feral child Mowgli from the book of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. The movie contains a number of classic songs, including "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wan'na Be Like You". Most of the songs were written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, it was the last to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. The film grossed over $73 million in the United States in its first release, and as much again from two re-releases.