Each year the library chooses films for preservation which are "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
This year's 25 additions bring the total number of preserved films to 700.
Other inductees this year include The Princess Bride, The Breakfast Club, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller The Birds.
To be eligible for preservation, films must be at least a decade old.
The announcement of The Lion King's inclusion comes three months after Disney announced the movie would be remade as a live action film directed by Jon Favreau.
The original animation was released in 1994 and later adapted for the stage.
Other films to be added this year include Lost Horizon, Funny Girl, East of Eden and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
Paris Is Burning, a 1990 documentary that explored drag ballroom dance culture through the eyes of New York City's black and Latino LGBTQ community, is also among the inductees.
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The Lion King and Thelma & Louise are among 25 films that will be preserved by the US Library of Congress.