Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore Sterling Holloway elected not to continue the role of Pooh and Sebastian Cabot, the original narrator, died shortly after the release of the feature film "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh". The deaths of Junius Matthews in 1978 and Barbara Luddy in 1979 also necessitated changes in Rabbit's and Kanga's portrayers; Will Ryan began a three-year stint as Rabbit's voice in this featurette while Julie McWhirter portrayed Kanga only once. Additionally, Laurie Main, Hal Smith, Will Ryan, and Kim Christianson later appear in the live-action series "Welcome to Pooh Corner" as the Narrator, Winnie the Pooh, Owl, Rabbit, and
Winnie the Pooh (franchise) Winnie the Pooh (franchise) Winnie the Pooh is a media franchise based on A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's stories featuring Winnie-the-Pooh. The Disney media franchise commenced in 1966 with the theatrical release of the short "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree". In the midst of a 2003 battle where Disney stood to lose commercial rights to Winnie the Pooh, "The Daily Telegraph" noted "Losing control of the Winnie the Pooh franchise would be a disaster for Disney. Analysts believe Pooh is worth $3bn-$6bn of Disney's total annual sales of $25bn." According to a 2013 Variety article, Winnie