Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree is a 1966 American animated musical fantasy short film based on the first two chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.

The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions, and released by Buena Vista Distribution on February 4, 1966, as a double feature with The Ugly Dachshund.

It was the last short film produced by Walt Disney, who died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, ten months after its release.

It had featured the voices of Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh, Junius Matthews as Rabbit, Bruce Reitherman as Christopher Robin, Clint Howard as Roo, Barbara Luddy as Kanga, Ralph Wright as Eeyore, Howard Morris as Gopher, and Hal Smith as Owl.

One morning, Winnie the Pooh, a honey-loving anthropomorphic bear who lives in the Hundred Acre Wood, does his stoutness exercise to help improve his appetite.

Unwilling to give up his quest for honey, Pooh visits the house of his best friend Christopher Robin, where he obtains a balloon from him.

He then rolls around in a mud puddle, hoping to trick the bees into believing he is a "little black rain cloud" and uses the balloon to float up to the hive.

Fed up with the delay, Rabbit takes several steps backwards and shoves Pooh with a running start, causing the bear to be launched into the air.

"[2] As early as 1938, Disney expressed interest in obtaining the film rights, and began negotiating with the Curtis Brown literary agency.

[3] For the first featurette, Disney and his collaborators turned to the first two chapters of the first book, "In which we are introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and some honey Bees, and the stories Begin", and "In which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place".

During the fall of 1966, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree was re-issued for the second time in America, as a supplement to Disney's live-action feature The Fighting Prince of Donegal.

[14] Since the film became so popular in America, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree was reused twice in local city theaters during 1967 as an extra feature to Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.

[26] Howard Thompson of The New York Times said that "[t]he Disney technicians responsible for this beguiling miniature have had the wisdom to dip right into the Milne pages, just the way Pooh paws after honey...The flavoring, with some nice tunes stirred in, is exactly right—wistful, sprightly, and often hilarious.

Purists, however, will rightfully balk at such innovations as the stammering gopher and the songs, in one of which Pooh is made to sing: 'Speaking poundage-wise / I improve my appetite when I exercise.

'"[28] E. H. Shepard felt the replacement was "a complete travesty", and Felix Barker of The Evening News ran a campaign opposed to the change.