Taylor Swift announced on June 1 that she wrote an original song for Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5: a track called "I Knew It, I Knew You" that will be released June 5 and tied to the franchise’s toy cowgirl Jessie.
The reveal landed after a teasing campaign — billboards went up Friday, a countdown ran on Swift’s webstore and a Times Square display — and immediately pushed searches for Toy Story 5 higher because the song arrives two weeks before the film hits theaters on June 19 and because the music will be sold in a limited CD single through Swift’s store.
Disney described the song as "a return to country," and Swift co-wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff. The release will include a studio version plus acoustic and piano renditions; limited-edition CDs were sold through Wednesday afternoon and are set to ship on June 19, the same day the movie opens. Disney linked the song directly to Jessie’s continuing arc — a journey the studio traces back to Toy Story 2 — and both the company and filmmakers framed Swift’s contribution as especially resonant with the character.
Swift wrote that she had dreamed of writing for these characters since she was a 5-year-old kid watching the first Toy Story, and that she fell "instantly in love with Toy Story 5" when she saw it early, writing the song as soon as she got home from the screening. Director Andrew Stanton said Swift’s connection to Jessie was immediate and that, on first listen, the song "instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member. It was kismet." Those endorsements provide the clearest evidence that the recording was created with the film’s emotional beats in mind rather than as a separate, promotional single.
Afriction remains. A gala premiere scheduled for next week may reveal whether "I Knew It, I Knew You" is Swift’s sole creative contribution to Toy Story 5 or the first of several collaborations. Hints that she was involved began in April; the recent billboard and countdown campaign confirmed the partnership but left open what else, if anything, Swift might have done for the film beyond writing, producing and performing this song.
The immediate calendar is straightforward: the song is available June 5; the limited CD singles ship June 19; and the movie opens June 19. The gala next week is the most consequential date left for fans and the studio alike — it is the moment when credits, soundtrack placements and any surprise cameos typically first become public in full.
The single most important unanswered question is whether Swift’s role extends beyond this song. The gala premiere should settle that: if the event, screenings or early press material show no additional Swift material or participation, the reasonable conclusion is that her involvement is focused on "I Knew It, I Knew You" — a high-profile, character-linked contribution Disney has framed as a homecoming to country that intentionally arrives ahead of the film.
