“Winnie-the-Pooh” was written by Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne. The story was based on a teddy that Milne had bought for his son, Christopher Robin Milne.

One day, the father and son went to the London Zoo where A.A. Milne saw a bear; that bear's name was Winnie. Christopher Robin had enjoyed his time at the zoo so much, he then chose to name the teddy bear he had gotten from his father after Winnie.

On a separate day, A.A. Milne noticed his son playing with his bear and having them talk to each other. It then sparked Milne to create a story about the animals, using his son and his bear Winnie as the main characters. He created more characters such as Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo.

A.A. Milne started out writing books about Winnie-the-Pooh, making a whole collection starting with “When We Were Very Young” (1924), “Winnie-the-Pooh” (1926), “Now We Are Six” (1927), and “The House at Pooh Corner” (1928).

The books grew in popularity over the years, leading Walt Disney to become interested in the stories, especially due to his own child’s love of the characters. Eventually the Walt Disney Productions company obtained licensing rights in the 1960s and began creating animated shorts and films.

The first “Winnie the Pooh” film to be released was “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree” in 1966, and it only lasted 25 minutes. The short film was based on chapters from the book by A.A. Milne and directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. The film was written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Xavier Atencio, Ken Anderson, Vance Gerry and Dick Lucas. The movie made $6.2 million at the box office.

Two years later, “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day” made $214.1 million. More films continued to be released, and the “Winnie the Pooh” franchise over the years has made roughly $48.8 billion.

Although A.A. Milne sadly passed away Jan. 31, 1956, he left behind a wonderful legacy.