On...It's a Tay Story, Baby...

...just say 'yes.'

That's right: when the countdown ended Monday, Pixar & Taylor Swift officially announced the collaboration they had been ingeniously teasing.

Taylor Swift has written an original song for Toy Story 5 titled "I Knew It, I Knew You."

As she reveals in (the ✨heavily✨ Debut TV coded) Instagram post:

"I fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5 when I was lucky enough to see it in its early stages and I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening."

The one thing that makes me head-tilt a little bit is the timing of it. (Disclaimer: I have zero knowledge of how these collabs come to exist.)

And I still firmly believe this is part of a larger collab between Disney and Taylor Swift (which I referenced in my last post) -- because as amazing as Taylor is, they don't just let people screen Disney films in their early stages, unless they're testing them for audiences. And I doubt Taylor Swift is part of a general screening audience. So I do believe ✨someone✨ expressed interest in this as part of the negotiations.

Maybe it was Disney saying, "Hey--we'd love it if you wrote a song for one of our films!"

Or Taylor saying, "Hey! I'd love to write a song for a Disney film!" or "Hey! I've always loved Toy Story and I know you have a new one coming out soon! It'd be perfect to set up my return to country!"

Or (what I kinda think maybe happened), Disney saying, "You should choose us as the streaming home for your Eras Tour (and not anybody else), because here's what we bring to the table: 15/25* Oscars for Best Animated Features have gone to Disney/Pixar films our songs ✨at the very least✨ get nominated for Oscars, if that's what you're going for because we know Billie Eilish has 2* so that might be something you're working on. *and that ratio would have been even more impressive when these negotations were happening because Disney/Pixar haven't won in a few years; also how many Oscars Billie has would depend on the timing too.

We have ✨some✨ sense of the timing, because Bob Iger alluded to the deal in his Instagram post (more on that in a separate post), posting a pic from "one of his last days as CEO" -- which was officially March 18, 2026.

Was the collab in the works before then? Probably.

Was it maybe finalized in March of 2026, as one of Iger's last official acts? Seems so.

I can definitely imagine a scenario where Taylor -- who has Debut TV already recorded and ready to go -- is looking for a way to transition out of the Showgirl era and into her Country era, and as she's admitted, "none of it was accidental." The Eras tour doc and updated concert was announced back in October, shortly after LOAS was released, which means negotiations for ✨that✨ had already happened. We've known about Toy Story 5 since 2023, with the actors confirming that they'd begun recording dialogue in late 2024.

✨Obviously✨ what happens at Disney, stays at Disney (unless they want you to know about it), but I think its highly plausible that Taylor and Disney had this in the works since at least Summer of 2025, and that Taylor may have seen a rough cut of the movie in early 2026, gone home, written the song, and then finalized the deal (to release it under Disney Records and own the masters of it) with Iger in March of 2026.

What does this mean for the movie? We'll have a stronger sense tomorrow (or, tonight) once the song drops, but we can bring together a few "invisible strings."

I. The Puzzle Pieces

1. The song was written and produced by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff, per Disney. Antonoff's involvement doesn't necessarily mean anything for the film connection, but should, at the very least, assuage the fears of those Swifties who worried that his lack of involvement with LOAS meant the two had fallen out. Midnights is one of my favorite Taylor albums, so I'm an Antonoff fan. (He also produced the 1989 vault tracks, which are my favorite songs off that album.)

2. There is no mention of Randy Newman in the press release. Given Randy Newman's connection to the Toy Story franchise, there was a lot of speculation that maybe Newman and Taylor Swift worked together on the song, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

3. The song "marks a return to Swift's country roots, blending styles that have defined her record-breaking career as a songwriter and an artist." Given the prevalence of Jessie in the marketing / promo materials, the country vibe isn't much of a surprise. Combined with the visual allusions to Jessie's origin story in Toy Story 2, it makes sense. It's also interesting that this statement emphasizes Taylor as a "songwriter" first and then an "artist." Perhaps not entirely surprising, given the New York Times piece on "The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters," and her induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame later this month (June 11).

4. Jessie is "front and center" in the fifth film, according to Variety's review of the first 30 minutes. Jazz Tangcay notes that the fifth film continues Jessie's story, which began in Toy Story 2, and "finds [Jessie] returning to her former home. Except, Emily doesn't live there anymore. There's a new family in the house...a young girl named Blaze." (Blaze is NOT voiced by Taylor Swift.) Tangcay also points out that Jessie is "forced to reckon with some memories of the house, Emily, and issues of abandonment."

5. Andrew Stanton was deliberately misleading us last week when he basically said, "Alas, there's no Taylor Swift song over the end credits. It would have been cool though!" It's clear that Stanton was dancing around the answer -- yes, there's not a song ✨over the end credits✨ but there is one somewhere else! In the Disney press release, Stanton also has this to say:

It’s incredible just how meaningful it’s been having Taylor write and perform this song. Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable. The song is so deeply connected to Toy Story. So much so that on first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member. It was kismet.

Which, structurally and ideologically, this echoes the caption of Taylor Swift's Instagram post. We seem to be building a mythology about this song here (which I think is definitely part of the Oscar campaign). It's been ✨4 YEARS✨ since a Disney/Pixar film has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (Encanto won in 2021, and Soul won in 2020) so I genuinely believe they're not playing around.

6. Finally, Taylor Swift referenced a hypothetical song structure in her NYT interview.
   

Whether or not this is an ✨actual✨ clue / Easter Egg remains to be seen, but this is definitely the kind of thing Taylor seems to enjoy not only doing, but also planning. (See also, "Mastermind": "I laid the groundwork / and then just like clockwork / the dominoes cascaded in a line.")

It could be for a later project, or just completely coincidental.

But it COULD also be subtly alluding to a plot point in Toy Story 5, given the focus on a young girl, learning lessons, realizations, and growing up. And also "if you really want to get me to cry," because Pixar movies EXCEL at that.

II. What Does It All Mean?!

While we probably won't know for certain until June 19th when the film is released -- depending on what the content of the song is -- here are my current thoughts.

We know three things for certain:

1. Taylor Swift has written an original song for Toy Story 5. 1A. Taylor Swift is also not voicing Jessie; that has, and always will be, Joan Cusack. There's no recasting shenanigans.
   

2. Taylor Swift is NOT voicing Blaze, the little girl currently living in Emily's house.
   

3. The marketing for this collab specifically is a masterclass in IP Synergy. Like, however you feel about Disney and Toy Story and Taylor Swift, they are both ✨experts✨ in creative marketing. Combine them together -- especially if you have Swifties at Pixar -- and it's...masterful.
   

   ⬅️ Exhibit A: There are 12 photos in this carousel, each of them corresponding to one of Taylor Swift's eras (loosely). This first one references Taylor's debut country era; Rep is a black and white photo of a snake; and the evermore photo is Jessie's braid. Just...perfection. 10/10. No notes.

What is less clear is where the song shows up in the film, what part of the story it connects to, and the extent of Taylor Swift's involvement in the film overall. The most likely (but not exhaustive!) possible scenarios I see right now:

1. Taylor has written an original song and is voicing a character.

   1. It could be a brief, humorous cameo, a la Bad Bunny, like a video / song on the "iPad" or a friend of Barbie's (Popstar Barbie) or something similar.

   2. She could be voicing young Emily in a flashback, kinda like how Miranda Cosgrove still voices young Margo in the Despicable Me movies or Selena Gomez voices young Mabel in Hotel Transylvania (although she's grown up in those movies)

   3. She could be voicing current Emily, if Jessie reunites with her, but Emily would also be a grandmother at this point. Plausible, if the twist is that Blaze is Emily's grand-daughter.

2. Taylor has just written the original song and it will be the background to Jessie + Emily's reunion

3. Taylor has just written the original song and it will be the background to Jessie + Bonnie's reunion

4. Taylor has just written the original song and it will have something to do with Jessie + forming a new connection with someone (although based on the past tense of the song title, I think this is the least likely possibility).

5. None of these are right and the song has nothing to do with Jessie, in the biggest plot twist of all time. (JK, I think this is the least likely possibility.)

The biggest question though -- can I stay awake until midnight tonight to hear the song when it drops?