The Lion King 1½ "Meerkat Rhapsody". The film was animated by Walt Disney Animation Australia studio in Sydney, Sparx and Spaff Animation. Upon its initial home video release, "The Lion King " was accompanied by with a marketing campaign tie-in with McDonald's with six Happy Meal toys including Simba, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Mufasa and Ed. In May 2003, the DVD edition was confirmed to include music videos, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes views of how the movie was made, and two featurettes: "Timon -- The Early Years"; a mockumentary tracing Timon's childhood through tongue-in-cheek interviews with family and friends; and "Disney's Funniest Moments," highlighting Disney animated
Simba more seasoned animators gravitated towards "Pocahontas" because "The Lion King "was deemed a "risk", while less experienced animators were assigned to work on "The Lion King". Co-director Rob Minkoff received this positively, saying that this decision "gave a lot of newer animators a chance to step up to leadership roles." The role of animating Simba was divided between Ruben A. Aquino and Mark Henn, the former of whom was the first animator to be assigned to the project. While Henn served as the supervising animator of Simba as a cub, credited as Young Simba, Aquino was placed in charge of