Taylor Swift’s Surprise Contribution to Toy Story 5 Revealed
Taylor Swift has always had a knack for hiding Easter eggs in her work, and now she’s taken that talent to a new level by contributing an original song to the upcoming Toy Story 5. The track, titled I Knew It, I Knew You, will be released this Friday, marking her first new music since 2025’s The Life of a Showgirl. Fans have been speculating about her involvement for months, and now the mystery is finally solved.
A Dream Come True for Taylor Swift
In a post on Instagram, Swift shared her excitement about the collaboration. “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,” she wrote. She revealed that she penned the song immediately after watching an early cut of the film. “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,” she added. “Sometimes you just know, right?”
Fans were quick to pick up on the clues leading to this revelation. For over a month, they had been convinced that Swift was somehow involved in the sequel. While Disney and Pixar remained silent, the hints kept coming.
Clues and Speculation
It all began with a mysterious countdown that appeared on Swift’s website against a cloud-filled backdrop. Fans immediately compared it to Andy’s bedroom wallpaper from the Toy Story films. The countdown disappeared quickly, but it didn’t stop fans from digging deeper.
The theory gained more traction when billboards featuring the letters “TS” in the unmistakable Toy Story font started appearing internationally. Though the initials could stand for either Taylor Swift or Toy Story, it gave Disney and Pixar a degree of plausible deniability. However, the 13 cartoon clouds scattered across the advertisements were harder to explain. Given the number’s close association with Swift, fans interpreted them as another Easter egg.
Pixar added fuel to the fire by sharing the billboard on social media alongside a lyric from Swift’s 2014 hit Shake It Off: “She’s making those moves up as she goes.” The line appeared to reference the lyric, “I’m dancin’ on my own / I make the moves up as I go.” Meanwhile, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the seagulls on the cover of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) had been replaced with clouds on streaming platforms, sending speculation into overdrive.
A Return to Country Roots
Disney has since revealed that the song is inspired by Jessie’s storyline in the film and described it as “a return to Taylor Swift’s country roots.” The track was co-written and co-produced by Swift and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, marking their first original release together since The Tortured Poets Department. Fans eager to hear multiple versions won’t have to wait long either, with acoustic and piano editions of the song also available.
Writer-director Andrew Stanton praised Swift’s contribution, saying her connection to Jessie was immediate. “Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable,” Stanton said. “The song is so deeply connected to Toy Story. On first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there.”
What’s Next?
Whether I Knew It, I Knew You is Swift’s only contribution to Toy Story 5 remains to be seen. The song arrives on June 5, ahead of the film’s Australian release on June 19.
