Taylor Swift announced on June 1 that she has written an original song for Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 titled "I Knew It, I Knew You," and the single will be released on June 5 ahead of the film’s global opening on June 19. Swift posted that collectors could preorder three CD-single variants through her website; the limited editions sold out within hours.
The soundtrack rollout is small in numbers but large in fan impact: three CD variants — each containing the original version plus a piano version and an acoustic version — were offered and vanished quickly. Swift also named longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff as her co-writer and described the song as a return to her country roots, while the film’s director, Andrew Stanton, called the contribution "so deeply connected to Toy Story" and said on first listen it felt "like a long-lost family member. It was kismet."
Swift framed the announcement in playful, familiar tones: "You knew it! My new original song I Knew It, I Knew You for Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5 will be yours on June 5th." She added that she’d adored the Toy Story characters "since I was a 5 year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie," and that she "fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5" when she saw an early screening, writing the song "as soon as I got home from the screening." Stanton echoed that immediate connection, saying Swift’s understanding of Jessie, the film’s cowgirl character who inspired the song, was "undeniable."
The timing matters because the single arrives two weeks before Toy Story 5 opens worldwide on June 19, a deliberate push to fold Swift’s global audience into the film’s final marketing stretch. Collectors who moved fastest were rewarded: the themed CD preorders disappeared hours after Swift’s Toy Story–themed site countdown ended on June 1. Reports note the CDs were made available for only two days and sold out in that window.
The announcement was called a surprise, but it landed on top of a weeks-long trail of clues that primed fans. In April, followers flagged paparazzi photos of Swift in a Toy Story color palette and spotted billboards using the franchise’s cloud backdrop and blocky yellow font to spell out the initials "TS" in seven cities — Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico City and London — which had already convinced many that a crossover was coming.
That gap between "surprise" and decoded hints is the thin friction in this rollout: the studio and Swift presented June 1 as the reveal, even as enthusiasts had been unpacking signs for weeks. Practically, the surprise mattered less to industry watchers than the mechanics — who worked on the track, how fans could buy it and when it would reach streaming platforms — all of which were answered by Swift’s post and the site drop.
What remains unsettled is how the song will function inside the film. Filmmakers and Swift have stressed that the track was inspired by Jessie and is deeply linked to the story; Stanton’s praise — "Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable" — implies a narrative fit. But the makers have not yet shown whether the song will underscore a scene, play over the end credits, or serve as a thematic motif threaded through the score.
Practical takeaways for listeners and moviegoers: "I Knew It, I Knew You" will be available on June 5 and the film opens June 19; three CD variants — original, piano and acoustic — were offered via Swift’s site and sold out quickly. The next things to watch are the song’s streaming release on June 5 and the film itself two weeks later, when audiences will finally hear whether Swift’s country-tinged return and Antonoff’s co-writing really do belong to Jessie’s story the way Stanton says they do.
