11 June 2026
Taylor Swift cried over the honour of writing a song for Toy Story 5.
Taylor Swift has written I Knew It, I Knew You for Toy Story 5
The 36-year-old megastar has written and recorded I Knew It, I Knew You for the upcoming animated film and she is proud to be the only artist to have created music for the franchise other than composer Randy Newman, who wrote the iconic You’ve Got a Friend in Me theme song for the original Toy Story, which was released in 1995.
In a preview for Disney and ABS’s upcoming special celebrating the franchise which was shared on Good Morning America, Taylor said: “I felt wonderful knowing that I had Randy’s blessing to write for this film given that I’m the first songwriter to get to partake in the Toy Story world outside of Randy.
“I was absolutely dazzled by it. It is my favourite Toy Story movie.”
She then appeared to wipe away a tear and said: “Don’t mind me. Just really liked the movie.”
Taylor’s involvement with Toy Story 5 was kept “top secret” and even Tom Hanks – who leads the voice cast as cowboy Woody – was in the dark about it.
He told Variety:“It was top secret. We did not know until, literally, when the moment came. They ushered us into a soundproof room and said, ‘Tonight at 9 p.m., the true end titles song is going to drop, and it’s by Taylor Swift.’
“And I was like, ‘You guys kept this from us all?’ We saw the movie without [the song], we had some dummy thing in there. They surprised us as well, to a delight.
“That’s like saying, ‘By the way, Judy Garland is singing ‘Over the Rainbow’ at the beginning of this.’ That kind of thing.”
I Knew It, I Knew You sees Taylor return to her country roots, and the lyrics are written from the perspective of cowgirl Jessie.
When the song was announced, the Love Story hitmaker admitted on social media she had “always dreamed” of working on the Toy Story soundtrack.
She wrote alongside a video of herself dressed as Jessie as a child: “I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a five year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie.
“I fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5 when I was lucky enough to see it in its early stages, and I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening. Sometimes you just know, right?
“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time.
“Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once. And being a @toystory kid from the age of five til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”
