Linda Woolverton was the original screenwriter of Il Re Leone (1994). She was virtually exhausted from production, as she wrote scripts and attended story meetings for both "The Lion King" and La bella e la bestia (1991) at the same time. She, moreover, was more invested in her work on "Beauty and the Beast" than on "The Lion King". Early on in the production of "The Lion King", producer Don Hahn found the script unfocused and lacking a clear theme, and after establishing the main theme as "leaving childhood and facing up to the realities of the world", asked for a final retool. Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, Brenda Chapman and Hahn then rewrote the story across two weeks of meetings with directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, who had just finished La bella e la bestia (1991). The script also had its title changed from "King of the Jungle" to "The Lion King", as the setting was not the jungle but the savannah. During the summer of 1992, the team was joined by screenwriter Irene Mecchi, with a second screenwriter, Jonathan Roberts, joining a few months later. Mecchi and Roberts took charge of the revision process, fixing unresolved emotional issues in the script and adding comedic moments for Pumbaa, Timon, and the hyenas. Lyricist Sir Tim Rice worked closely with the writing team, flying to California at least once a month, as his songs needed to work in the narrative continuity. Rice's lyrics - which were reworked up to the production's end - were even pinned to the storyboards during development. Rewrites were frequent, with animator Andreas Deja saying that completed scenes would be delivered only for the response to be that parts needed to be reanimated due to dialog changes. Months before release, the Writers Guild of America officially awarded the screenplay credits to Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. The Writers Guild ruled that the film's final script utilizes and combines all of the great contributions made by the three writers.

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