I Knew It, I Knew You is written with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff and marks a return to Swift’s country roots
After days of speculation online, Taylor Swift has announced the release of a new original song for Toy Story 5.
Titled I Knew It, I Knew You, the single will be released on 5 June, with CD singles available for preorder on Swift’s website. Three variants will be available, each containing different versions of the song: a piano version, an acoustic version and the original.
Rumors started to swirl around Swift’s involvement in the film last week, after fans spotted billboards that spelled out the initials “TS” in the blocky yellow Toy Story font. The posters appeared in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico City and London.
“It’s a *Toy* Story,” Swift wrote on Instagram on 1 June, after a Toy Story-themed countdown on her website ended. “You knew it! My new original song I Knew It, I Knew You for Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 will be yours on June 5th.
“I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5 year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie,” Swift added. “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?”
Swift wrote the song with her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, per a press release. I Knew It, I Knew You will mark Swift’s return to the country genre and was inspired by Jessie, the film’s cowgirl character.
“It’s incredible just how meaningful it’s been having Taylor write and perform this song,” said Andrew Stanton, the Toy Story 5 director. “Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable.
“The song is so deeply connected to Toy Story,” he said. “So much so that on first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member. It was kismet.”
The single will be Swift’s first new music since the release of her record-breaking album The Life of a Showgirl in October 2025. In April she released a video for the single Elizabeth Taylor comprising archive footage of the legendary actor.
Toy Story 5 will be released worldwide on 19 June, with a trailer showing Buzz and Woody facing off with a tablet called Lilypad in a battle for playtime attention.
Source: Guardian - World News
