A valiant prince, a sleeping princess, and a malicious sorceress are all pretty fairly standard fairy tale tropes of characters by this point, but Disney managed to pull off something truly magical 60 years ago with the debut of Sleeping Beauty. The film first debuted on January 29, 1959, and has since gone on to become one of the defining stories across the entire Disney animation catalog.

The story of Disney’s film took inspiration from various other tellings of the tale, such as from the Tchaikovsky ballet and from the Brothers Grimm version. It follows Aurora, the first born daughter to King Stefan and Queen Leah; on the day of her christening, she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of a neighboring King. Three good fairies – Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather – are in attendance at the party, and gift the child with beauty and song. However, before the third fairy can bestow her gift, the sorceress Maleficent appears, irritated that she was not invited. Maleficent curses Aurora, saying that before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Merryweather uses her powers to weaken the curse, changing the outcome from certain death to a death-like sleep instead, from which she could only be revived with true love’s kiss.

Aurora is sent away from the kingdom by her parents to instead be raised by the fairies in a cottage in the woods, and her name is changed to Briar Rose to hide her identity. On the day of her 16th birthday, she meets a grown Phillip in the woods, and immediately falls in love with him (unaware of already being promised to him in marriage). Upon being informed of her royal heritage, Aurora is returned to the kingdom – however, Maleficent appears and lures her to a cursed spinning wheel, which she touches, and immediately falls asleep. The other citizens of the kingdom also fall asleep, and Maleficent sets up in the castle, which she surrounds with thorns.

The fairies realize that Phillip is the man that Aurora fell in love with in the woods, and entrust him to rescue Aurora and restore the kingdom. Phillip faces off against Maleficent, who turns herself into a massive, fire-spitting dragon in a last-ditch attempt to kill him. Eventually the prince is successful in killing Maleficent, reawakening Aurora, and restoring peace to the kingdom.

Sleeping Beauty began development back in 1951, with a planned release of 1955. The writers at Disney were able to reincorporate some discarded ideas from earlier princess-focused films such as Snow White and Cinderella for Sleeping Beauty, such as Phillip’s capture and dramatic escape. However, by 1953, despite the staff having already begun to assemble a story reel, Walt Disney decided to toss just about everything and start over (accordingly delaying the planned 1955 release). Things were pushed back even further after director Ted Sears suffered a heart attack, resulting in directing animator Eric Larson taking over. Disney himself told Larson to take as much time as needed, as he wanted the film to be “the ultimate in animation.”

Part of what would make Sleeping Beauty “the ultimate in animation” was how a live-action version was filmed as reference for the animators, which Disney had insisted on for the sake of having the most lifelike movement possible. Helene Stanley served as the reference for Aurora, having previously done such work on Cinderella as the title character; Ed Kemmer, who was better-known to audiences at the time as Commander Buzz Corry on Space Patrol, modeled for Phillip, while Eleanor Audley recorded live-action footage for Maleficent while also voicing the character.

Though not quite the musical of past Disney features, Sleeping Beauty did feature a standout song that has since become one of the most popular in the company’s history – “Once Upon a Dream.” The song is sung by Aurora and Phillip during their first meeting in the woods, and again during the finale. It has since been rerecorded a number of times in the years since, including a far darker version by Lana Del Rey for the 2014 live-action Maleficent film, and included in various Disney compilation albums.

Sleeping Beauty, at the time of its release, was the most expensive film ever made by Disney, with production costs totaling about $6 million. During its initial theatrical run, it only brought in about $5.3 million, meaning that Disney posted their first fiscal loss in decades, and layoffs ensued. Sleeping Beauty (like Alice in Wonderland, which was also not initially commercially successful) wouldn’t see a theatrical rerelease during Walt Disney’s lifetime; the film was eventually put back in theaters in 1970, and several times again throughout the ’80s and ’90s, helping it to eventually turn quite a profit. Critical response was similar – it received somewhat of a lukewarm response on its initial run, and has since gone on to be considered one of the greatest animated films ever produced by Disney or by anyone else. Maleficent ended up being the breakout character in the years since, and is considered the face of the “Disney Villains” sub-franchise at large.

The characters from the film have since appeared in other media, including video games such as Kingdom Hearts (of which Maleficent is a recurring antagonist), books, and plenty of toys. The castle at the center of Disneyland Park in California is also known as “Sleeping Beauty Castle,” and features a walkthrough exhibit that tells the story of the film.

Though Sleeping Beauty is considered by many to be a very standard fairy tale, the charm that the animated Disney produced exudes has endeared it to generations of filmgoers. Sometimes fairy tales are just standard – other times, they’re timeless. After 60 years, Sleeping Beauty certainly falls into the latter category.