It was written as the theme song for the 1982 film Rocky III and released that year as a single from Survivor's third album, Eye of the Tiger.

Sylvester Stallone, the director and star of Rocky III, enlisted Survivor after the band Queen denied him permission to use their song "Another One Bites the Dust".

Survivor derived lyrics, including the title, from dialogue in the film, and conceived a riff with chord changes to match the punches in the boxing scenes.

At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, "Eye of the Tiger" won Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Song of the Year.

[4] The director and actor Sylvester Stallone enlisted them to write a song for his 1982 film Rocky III, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust".

[4][5] The the title was taken from a line spoken by the Rocky character Apollo Creed: "You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge ... You gotta get it back.

'"[4] At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, "Eye of the Tiger" won Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Song of the Year, but lost to "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson.

[16] In 2012, Survivor sued the Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in Illinois federal court for using "Eye of the Tiger" without authorization as entrance music at his political rallies.

[18] On November 18, 2015, Sullivan's company Rude Music filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, Illinois, against the campaign organization of the Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for using "Eye of the Tiger" at a rally without permission.