The secret was almost impossible to keep. When Taylor Swift came on board to write an original song for Toy Story 5, the filmmakers were told in no uncertain terms: not a word. Not to friends. Not to family. “Not even my mom?” co-writer and co-director Kenna Harris recalls thinking. “No,” producer Lindsey Collins remembers. “Not even your mom.”
The result of all that silence is “I Knew It, I Knew You,” which Swift wrote with Jack Antonoff and performed at the film’s Los Angeles premiere — where she also joined Randy Newman for a duet of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” — and which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. It’s her 15th chart-topper, moving her out of a tie with Rihanna and Drake for third place in Hot 100 history, behind only the Beatles and Mariah Carey.
But before any of that, there was a room somewhere at Pixar where Harris and Collins heard the song for the first time — and had absolutely nothing to say. In the best possible way.
“She said, ‘Feel free to give me any notes,'” Collins recalls. “And we were like…” The sentence trails off. Harris picks it up: “Genuinely, we couldn’t have had any. My note is that it’s too good.”
Swift had come to the project after watching an earlier cut of the film, and arrived with a clear creative vision. According to Collins, Swift told them: “I think I need to write Jessie’s song, and I think I know what it needs to be, and I think I can deliver on what you’re wanting her send-off to be at the end of this movie.” She turned the finished song around in a single day.
“She clearly watched Toy Story 2 a lot,” Collins says. “The lyrics are so specific — so many things she wrote in to make sure it didn’t feel tacked onto the end of the film. It felt like it was coming from the characters and from the story.” Harris puts it more simply: “Game recognized game — storyteller recognized storyteller. Lucky, lucky.”
For awards watchers, the more interesting question is what happens next awards season. “I Knew It, I Knew You” will be eligible for Best Original Song at the Oscars — and the Toy Story franchise has an extraordinary record in that category. Randy Newman received nominations for “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from the original film, “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2, and “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from Toy Story 4. Toy Story 3 went one better: Newman won for “We Belong Together.” Four films, four nominations, one win.
Swift, by contrast, has never been nominated for an Oscar despite four nominations at the Golden Globes for Best Original Song: “Safe & Sound” from The Hunger Games (which did win a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media), “Sweeter Than Fiction” from One Chance, “Beautiful Ghosts” from Cats, and “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing, which made the Oscar shortlist but didn’t convert into a nomination.
A song in a Toy Story film — now a certified No. 1 hit with country, pop, and adult contemporary crossover — may be the strongest shot she’s had yet. History is on her side. Newman is the one who earned those four prior bids, so the jury is still out on whether the franchise’s Oscar magic transfers.
Toy Story 5 hits theaters on June 19.
