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Taylor Swift Kicked Off Her Pixar Era With a Brand New ‘Toy Story 5’ Song Out Now
The Taylor Swift Toy Story 5 theory that ran for weeks across every social platform where Disney fans and Swifties gather got its answer yesterday, and the answer was everything the fan community had been hoping for since April 30.
Taylor Swift dropped her Toy Story 5 song on June 5, and the Swifties who never stopped believing were completely vindicated.
The song is titled “I Knew It I Knew You”, written by Swift and her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, and it is out now on streaming platforms and available on CD and vinyl. The country-rooted track was created specifically for Jessie the cowgirl, and director Andrew Stanton described the collaboration as feeling like a long-lost family member on first listen.
How the Theory Started and How It Ended
The speculation began on April 30 when a countdown clock with Toy Story-colored clouds briefly appeared on TaylorSwift.com before disappearing ten minutes later without explanation. A Chicago billboard appeared weeks later with the letters TS on a blue cloud background. Pixar director Andrew Stanton denied the ending song was Swift’s but said nothing about the rest of the film. The Swifties read the precise wording of that denial correctly and kept the theory alive.
Yesterday it became confirmed news rather than speculation.
Swift said writing the song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time, and that she had been a Toy Story fan since age five. She credited Stanton for envisioning her for the project years ago, when he wrote the film, and acknowledged Randy Newman’s foundational work in creating the Toy Story musical universe.
Stanton said Swift’s connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable, and that on first listen, the song felt like it had always belonged in the Toy Story world.
What the Song Means for Jessie
I Knew It, I Knew You appears to be the emotional counterpart to When She Loved Me, the Randy Newman-written ballad performed by Sarah McLachlan in Toy Story 2 that played over Jessie’s origin story of being abandoned by her original owner, Emily. Where that song captured loss and abandonment, Swift’s country track appears to bring Jessie’s story full circle.
In Toy Story 5, Jessie ends up back at Emily’s house, now occupied by a young horse-loving girl named Blaze Manoukian, and Emily herself appears for the first time in franchise history in a remastered version of the Toy Story 2 flashback sequence. Twenty-seven years after Jessie first told Woody her story, audiences will finally see Emily.
Jessie takes on a significantly larger role in Toy Story 5 following Woody’s departure at the end of Toy Story 4, and the song reflects that expanded narrative investment from Pixar.
What Comes Next
Toy Story 5 opens June 19. Early industry tracking projected a domestic opening weekend of approximately 150 million dollars, which would set a new franchise record and potentially challenge Incredibles 2’s record of 182.6 million dollars for the largest animated film opening weekend in history.
“I Knew It, I Knew You” is out now. The film is two weeks away. The theory was real from the beginning.
