Did the Famous Popeye short, "We're On Our Way to Rio" inspire the Hope-Crosby "Road" picture?

The Popeye short was released in 1944 but the "Road" picture in question was released about 3 years later. Is it possible the feature film was inspired by the short? For awhile I had mistakenly thought Popeye and Bluto were singing, "We're On the Road to Rio"; but now realize that the name of the song is actually "We're On Our Way to Rio".

I have a copy of the book "Strongerr Than Spinach," and while it gives a synopsis of the short, it doesn't say anyting about the Crosby/Hope "Road" movies.

The opening of We're On Our Way to Rio is definitely a nod to The Road to Morocco (1942) . But this is the era of FDR's Good Neighbor Policy, which I think was the reason for this particular Popeye cartoon. It seems likely that it was simply the number of South American themed films produced in the early 40s that influenced the choice of title for the the fifth Road movie. But you never know!

You may be right. For years I had erroneously assumed that the Hope-Crosby "Road to Rio" film had preceded the cartoon; because the cartoon seemed to be a direct parody of the film. Olive Oyl served, of course, as the Dorothy Lamour type of femme-fatale/damsel-in-distress that Hope-Crosby would encounter.