Taylor Swift releases new song for Toy Story 5

Taylor Swift Releases Country-Inflected “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Toy Story 5

Taylor Swift dropped a new original song on Friday, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” written for Disney and Pixar’s upcoming Toy Story 5 — a track that Disney is promoting as a return to the singer’s country roots.

From Love Story to Toy Story

The single, co-written and co-produced with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, was inspired by the journey of Jessie, the cowgirl character voiced by Joan Cusack whose arc stretches back to Toy Story 2. Disney described the song as “blending styles that have defined her record-breaking career as a songwriter and artist.”thewaltdisneycompany

Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton called the collaboration “kismet.” In a statement, he said, “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. So much so that on first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member.”thewaltdisneycompany

To mark the release, Swift shared a childhood home video on social media showing herself dressed in a cowboy outfit, a clip that quickly circulated among fans. The post was captioned in a nod to her trajectory from Nashville teenager to global pop star — or, as one outlet put it, “from Love Story to Toy Story.”yahoo

The Road to Release

The announcement on June 1 followed a carefully orchestrated buildup. “TS” billboards — a play on both Toy Story and Taylor Swift’s initials — appeared over the preceding weekend in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico City, and London, while a Toy Story 5-themed countdown ticked down on Swift’s official website. Three exclusive CD editions featuring the standard, acoustic, and piano versions of the song went on sale through Swift’s webstore, with physical copies set to ship on June 19.variety

The song is now available on all major streaming platforms and has been promoted to U.S. country radio. It arrives two weeks ahead of Toy Story 5’s theatrical release on June 19, following a world premiere in Los Angeles on June 9. The film, directed by Stanton and featuring franchise composer Randy Newman’s score, is the fifth mainline installment in Pixar’s long-running series.wikipedia

A Nashville Homecoming

For Swift, who launched her career as a country artist in Nashville before crossing over to pop with 2014’s 1989, the track represents her first foray back into the genre in years. Her most recent album, The Life of a Showgirl, took her in a different direction entirely. According to Variety, the song will have two weeks to build momentum as a streaming-only release before CD sales provide an additional boost in its third week.variety