Taylor Swift is in her Tay Story era. The musician stepped out to join the Toy Story 5 cast at the Los Angeles premiere on Tuesday evening on the heels of her new original song for the film “I Knew It, I Knew You,” breaking records last week.
The singer-songwriter stopped for photos in promotion of the film and her new single “I Knew It, I Knew You.”
Following the screening of the animated film from Pixar, Swift performed and addressed the audience.
Swift acknowledged Joan Cusack and said she “has done an extraordinary job” voicing Jesse, adding, “It was an honor to write for her, and I am very lucky that I got to write for this film.”
“I am also lucky enough to be here because of someone else who is the architect of the Toy Story musical universe,” Swift continued. “He is the king of making us feel the absolute most and pulling at our heartstrings and making us laugh and making us like he’s one of our friends, you know what I mean. I’m talking about Randy Newman.”
After introducing Randy Newman, Swift joined him for a duet of “You Got A Friend In Me.”
“I Knew It, I Knew You” harkens back to the genre in which Swift kicked off her career: country. A harmonica croons alongside her on the relaxed track, the likes of which we haven’t heard since folklore’s “Betty.”
The ballad also aligns with the perspective of Jessie’s (Joan Cusack) abandonment and eventual joining of Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz’s (Tim Allen) crew of toys that once belonged to Andy and now live with Bonnie. A companion music video contains some footage of the cowgirl, Bullseye and more from the fifth film.
Swift penned the new tune immediately upon seeing an early screening of the film, and she thanked director Andrew Stanton for envisioning this opportunity for her when she first revealed that she had, indeed, written a song for the film after mysterious T.S. billboards popped up and other sign like a countdown on her website and the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) artwork changing from seagulls to clouds hinted at the possibility. She brought back frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff for the songwriting process as well.
Alongside the songstress, other attendees included main cast Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack and Greta Lee, who voices main antagonist Lilypad in the film. Lee has previously worked with Swift after they met on The Graham Norton Show and Swift had the idea to include all the celebrities she appeared with in a romantic comedy-like music video for “Opalite,” a track off her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl.
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Watch Taylor Swift at the Toy Story premiere in the video below.
Following her red carpet appearance, Swift made her way inside the Dolby Theater, which you can see in the video below.
Watch Taylor Swift perform her song for Toy Story 5.
