Taylor Swift announced Wednesday that she and producer Jack Antonoff have written an original song for Toy Story 5, and it’s already available to stream. The track is called “I Knew It, I Knew You,” and it was written specifically for Jessie, one of the franchise’s most beloved characters.
Swift shared the news on Instagram with a caption that felt less like a press release and more like a genuine thank-you note. It gave a clear window into how she approaches a creative brief that’s both new territory and deeply personal ground.
“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time,” she wrote. “Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once.”
That dual feeling, of being stretched and settled at the same time, is something Swift has turned into a creative signature. She’s built her career on emotional specificity. Jessie, expressive and fiercely loyal, with her own complicated backstory, fits that instinct naturally.
The connection to the franchise runs deeper than the assignment. Swift said she’s been a Toy Story fan “from the age of 5 til now,” and the cowboy hat emoji she dropped at the end of the post felt entirely earned.
Director Andrew Stanton gets credit for making the pairing happen. Swift thanked him on Instagram for imagining her for the project “all those years ago when you wrote this newest film.” That long-range vision, holding space for the right collaborator rather than whoever’s available, is exactly the care that keeps the Toy Story series feeling like more than a nostalgia machine.
Swift also took time to acknowledge Randy Newman. His original compositions for the franchise have shaped how generations of kids first experience music and emotion. “Thank you to the incomparable Randy Newman for the gorgeous sonic tapestry of songs and scores you’ve meticulously woven over the years,” she wrote. “You created the Toy Story musical world, and we are lucky to get to live in it.”
That’s not a throwaway credit. Newman’s music, particularly “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” sits in a category almost impossible to follow without feeling the weight of what came before. Swift doesn’t sidestep that. She names the legacy directly and frames her own contribution as living inside that world, not displacing it. That framing says something about how seriously she took the assignment.
Antonoff, Swift’s longtime collaborator and close friend, co-wrote the song with her. The two have produced some of her most praised work together across multiple albums. His presence on a project like this feels natural.
“We wrote this with so much adoration for these characters that made us laugh and helped us learn lessons and think outside the backyard all throughout our childhoods,” Swift added.
“I Knew It, I Knew You” from Toy Story 5 is out everywhere now.
