Taylor Swift Wrote an Original Song for ‘Toy Story 5’—Here’s the Sweet Back Story

The original Toy Story, which premiered in 1995, is woven into the fabric of our culture. Maybe it was a VHS tape on rainy afternoons. Maybe it was the bedtime ritual of “You’ve got a friend in me” sung softly to a sleepy toddler. Either way, the news that Taylor Swift has written an original song for Toy Story 5 hits squarely in the heart—because she grew up with a love for the movie, too.

Swift, 36, confirmed her involvement in the upcoming Pixar film on Monday, June 1, ending weeks of internet speculation that had Swifties combing through cloud-filled clues. Her new song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” will be released on June 5, and Toy Story 5 hits theaters on Friday, June 19.

A song born from a screening

What makes this announcement so tender is Swift’s own admission that these characters have been part of her life since she was a little girl, according to Us Weekly.

“It’s a Toy Story 🤠,” she wrote on Instagram. “You knew it! My new original song ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ for Disney and @pixar’s @toystory 5 will be yours on June 5th. I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5 year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie. 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. Sometimes you just know, right? You can pre-order now exclusively on my site and catch Toy Story 5 in theaters June 19th ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️.”

There’s something deeply relatable about a grown woman watching a movie she loved as a 5-year-old and feeling so moved she rushes home to write a song about it. We’ve all had that moment—maybe sitting next to our own kids during a Pixar film, blinking back tears we didn’t see coming.

The CD single, an acoustic version and a piano version are all available to pre-order on Swift’s website. Three versions, because of course.

The clues we (almost) caught

Looking back, the trail of breadcrumbs was classic Taylor. Rumors started swirling in April when fans spotted a 48-hour countdown on her website—yellow and blue numbers against a sky-blue background dotted with white clouds. Sound familiar? It was the same cloud-print wallpaper that decorated Andy’s bedroom in the original Toy Story films.

That same month, Swift was photographed in a sky-blue Staud dress with white stripes, and billboards began appearing with that same dreamy cloud motif—13 clouds, to be exact.

“13 clouds and ‘TS?'” one user posted on X. “Swifties know that can’t be a coincidence.”

By May, even TikTok was in on it: searching “Taylor Swift” sent clouds drifting across the screen. The cover of her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album, which previously featured seagulls, was quietly updated with clouds on streaming platforms. And Pixar joined the fun, sharing a clip of Jessie dancing in front of one of the billboards with the caption, “She’s making those moves up as she goes”—a wink to Swift’s “Shake It Off.”

It’s the kind of layered, playful marketing that feels like a love letter to longtime fans. And honestly? Watching it unfold is the most fun many of us have had with pop culture in a while.

A release date with meaning

Here’s a detail that gives us chills: Toy Story 5 opens June 19—exactly 20 years to the day after Swift released her debut single, “Tim McGraw.” For those of us who remember when she was the curly-haired country newcomer singing about a first love, that anniversary lands with quiet weight. Two decades. How is that possible?

The story and the familiar voices

The fifth film follows Bonnie as she struggles to make friends in the real world and is given a smart device by her parents. The toys are back—Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the rest of the gang—now facing off against a new character named Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee.

Hearing Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprise these roles one more time feels like a gift. These are the voices that filled our living rooms when our kids were small, and now they’re back just in time for many of us to share them with grandkids, nieces and nephews.

Disney has also confirmed Bad Bunny is making a “voice cameo” as a character described as “Pizza with Sunglasses,” part of “a small but mighty community of forgotten toys that live in an abandoned backyard shed.” Alan Cumming joins the cast as Evil Bullseye, providing the voice for Woody’s trusty steed during what’s described as a playful sequence in the film.

Mark your calendars for June 19. Some movie nights are worth planning ahead for—and this one, with a Taylor Swift song waiting at the heart of it, feels like one of them.