The musical piece known as the Star Tours theme was created by Richard Bellis specifically for the initial Disney Star Tours theme park attraction. Bellis has stated that he envisioned the music as something that a fictional advertising agency within the Star Wars universe would produce as a jingle for the Star Tours travel company.
This theme, in several different forms, was used in commercials and video clips promoting the Star Tours travel agency, which were shown in the Star Tours ride's queue area. For instance, the advertisement for the Trek to Tatooine included a short, newly arranged version of the Cantina Band song taken from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. This particular version was initially played during the closing credits of George Lucas' Star Tours, a short promotional film for the ride that aired on ABC on December 28, 1986, only a few days before the ride's grand opening at Disneyland.
The composition incorporated variations of the announcement chime that could be heard via the public address system in the ride's waiting line. The Trek to Tatooine version of the theme was included on multiple Disney theme park soundtrack albums as a segment of a longer Star Tours track containing music from the entire attraction. Later, in 2011, the revamped attraction Star Tours: The Adventures Continue featured new iterations of the theme.
In the inaugural episode of the 2024 television series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, a sound reminiscent of the Star Tours chime is audible as students disembark a tram on At Attin. The tram's pilot is an RX-series pilot droid, which is the same model as RX-24, the original ride's pilot. David W. Collins, the series' sound designer, later confirmed that the sound was intended as a tribute to the ride.