Taylor Swift’s ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ Is the ‘Toy Story 5’ Song Nobody Knew They Needed, and It’s Now on Disney+
Few collaborations in recent memory have landed quite as unexpectedly and yet perfectly as a pop superstar writing a country ballad for a beloved animated franchise about toys. That is exactly what happened when Taylor Swift stepped into the world of ‘Toy Story 5’, delivering an original song that manages to feel both deeply personal and custom-made for Pixar’s emotional universe. The music video for the track is now streaming on Disney+, giving fans another way to experience the moment ahead of the film’s theatrical release.
‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ arrived on streaming on June 5, and an animated visual followed hours later, pulling together scenes from across the ‘Toy Story’ franchise with Jessie at the center of it all. The song was co-written and co-produced by Swift alongside her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. For Swift, the reunion with Antonoff carried its own sentimental weight, as the two had not worked together since ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, making this their first collaboration since that project.
The creative direction of the track was not accidental. Disney confirmed the song is inspired by Jessie’s ongoing journey in ‘Toy Story 5’ and brings Swift back to her country roots, blending styles that have defined her record-breaking career. The track leans into harmonica and a distinctly twangy vocal delivery, with Swift singing about reuniting with someone she was formerly close to. Many fans quickly connected the song’s theme of rediscovering something beloved to Swift’s own artistic arc, reading it as a reflection on her relationship with country music itself.
Swift began writing the song shortly after attending an early screening of ‘Toy Story 5’, reportedly starting work immediately upon returning home. She shared on social media that the creative process felt like both a departure and a homecoming at once. In a note posted online, she credited director Andrew Stanton for imagining her for the project and gave a warm acknowledgment to Randy Newman for building the ‘Toy Story’ musical world she and Antonoff got to inhabit. In the same post, Swift wrote about the adoration she and Antonoff poured into the characters that shaped their childhoods, adding that being a ‘Toy Story’ kid since age five is an adventure she plans to stay on, to infinity and beyond.
To mark the release, Swift shared a childhood home video of herself wearing a red cowgirl hat and a western-inspired outfit, a detail that resonated deeply with fans given the song’s Jessie-inspired perspective. Physical editions of the single, including CD and vinyl formats, were offered as well, though they quickly sold out.
‘Toy Story 5’ is directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris, and centers the emotional weight of the story on Jessie, with Buzz Lightyear as her second-in-command, while Woody operates separately after the events of ‘Toy Story 4’. The core voice cast returns in full, with Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz, and Joan Cusack reprising Jessie, joined by a deep roster of familiar and new voices including Greta Lee as Lilypad, the film’s frog-shaped tablet antagonist, and Conan O’Brien as a new tech toy named Smarty Pants. The film opens in theaters on June 19, with a running time of 102 minutes.
With Swift’s music video now living on Disney+ and the film just days away, the crossover moment feels genuinely complete. Whether you come for the Swifties or for the toys, this particular collaboration has created something that belongs equally to both fandoms. Are you feeling the country-tinged pull of ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’, or does the idea of Taylor Swift soundtracking a Pixar tearjerker still feel like something you need to sit with before the credits roll on June 19?
