Taylor Swift wanted to be certain she would not take another creator’s place when she agreed to write the end-credits song for “Toy Story 5”. Speaking with director Andrew Stanton on November 1, she recalled the questions she asked before accepting the assignment for “I Knew It, I Knew You”, which she created with Jack Antonoff after seeing an early screening.
Before agreeing to “Toy Story 5”, Taylor Swift repeatedly asked whether the filmmakers had approached someone else while she was unavailable. She did not want her return to the discussion to mean another artist lost an assignment already offered to them. The concern was not about competing for the role, but about understanding what had happened during the months when she could not commit to the project.
The singer described that uncertainty on Sunday, November 1, in a conversation with Andrew Stanton after a special screening. Their subject was the creation of “I Knew It, I Knew You”, the film’s end-credits song. The discussion returned to the period before recording, when her schedule prevented the collaboration from moving forward and left the proposed musical contribution unresolved for a substantial period.
Her commitments to the Eras Tour delayed the initial arrangements. When she found time to return to the proposal, months had passed and she thought the production might reasonably have found another solution. Swift recalled asking for honesty about whether she had been replaced. Even after being told the offer remained open, she wanted reassurance that agreeing would not remove someone else from work they had already accepted.
Stanton described the wait differently. From the beginning of the fifth film, he had wanted to try something different with its original song, and Taylor Swift was the only artist he had considered. When she was unavailable, he did not approach another writer. His alternative, he explained, was to have no new end-credits song if their proposed collaboration could not be made to happen.
The distinction is significant because the musical identity of “Toy Story” has been closely connected with Randy Newman since the first film in 1995. Swift’s involvement concerned this particular original song. Newman remained the composer of the orchestral score for “Toy Story 5”, continuing his work within the series. Their contributions coexist in the film, rather than one artist replacing the other’s entire musical role.
Once the assignment was clarified, writing moved much faster than the earlier discussions. Taylor Swift watched an early screening and went straight to the studio with Jack Antonoff. They completed the song that same day. Both are credited with writing and producing it, while Swift supplies the vocal performance heard over the closing credits, turning her response to the screening into a finished musical contribution.
The director heard the result a few days later and recalled being moved by it. To explain his reaction, he returned to a particular memory of Newman playing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” at the piano. That was the other occasion he remembered hearing a new song and immediately feeling that it belonged in the film, providing a comparison for how Swift’s recording affected him.
The link with Newman had also taken a live form at the Hollywood premiere in June. Swift performed “I Knew It, I Knew You” and joined him for “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. The appearance placed the new composition alongside the earlier melody associated with the franchise, connecting the latest film’s original song with a familiar part of the musical world surrounding its characters.
During the Sunday conversation, Taylor Swift explained that her brother Austin first urged her to see the film. He handles licensing of her music for audiovisual productions and called to say she would love it. When she asked why, he said a nondisclosure agreement prevented him from explaining. She teased him about the formal response, recalling how their professional discussions can return to the familiar tone of siblings.
What she recognised on screen was the intimacy of one of her own friendships. Bonnie and Blaze reminded her of Abigail Anderson, whom she met after moving to Nashville at 14. Swift remembered the uncertainty of being the new child at school and the relief of finding someone who shared the same unusual sense of humour. The connection informed her response without making the song a direct retelling of her school years.
Their shared language included imitating voices from “Napoleon Dynamite”, something the two friends still do. She focused on the experience of being understood as she is, explaining the personal association she found in the characters. Her account described how a film could bring a familiar feeling into focus and help prompt a song, while leaving the story on screen distinct from the events of her own life.
“I Knew It, I Knew You” reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 and was performed again at the Academy Museum Gala in October. Discussion of a possible original-song Oscar nomination continues, but no nomination has been announced. Before the chart success and performances came Stanton’s assurance: while waiting for Taylor Swift’s answer, he had not assigned the work to anybody else.
