Taylor Swift releases new ‘Toy Story 5’ song

Pop superstar Taylor Swift dropped a new song for “Toy Story 5” on Friday.

She released “I Knew It, I Knew You,” a bit of a return to country music for the performer who first made a name for herself in the Nashville music scene before taking over the world.

What to know about the song

Swift doesn’t sing with a familiar twang on “I Knew It, I Knew You,” but no matter – the song features some elements inextricable from the country genre: Live instrumentation, plucky banjo and harmonica that opens the track.

Most view Swift’s last official foray into the country music genre to be 2012’s “Red,” though the album is much more of a crossover experiment. It would be more astute to label “Speak Now” as her last true-blue, full-length, country music release – and that was more than 15 years ago.

Additionally, “I Knew It, I Knew You” is also Swift’s first original material since “The Life of a Showgirl” was released in October.

Taylor Swift appears at the MTV Video Music Awards in Elmont, N.Y., on Sept. 11, 2024.

The song is also co-produced by Jack Antonoff, her former, frequent collaborator. Swift started working with Antonoff on 2014’s “1989” through 2024’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Notably, the pair started their long collaboration after Swift’s country era, perhaps with the rare exception of “Betty” from her 2020 “Folklore” album.

Inspired by ‘Toy Story’ franchise

Taylor Swift shared her process and inspiration for writing the song.

“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time. Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once,” Swift wrote on social media Friday, referencing the beloved cowgirl character. “And being a ‘Toy Story’ kid from the age of 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”

She also shared that preorders for three CD single versions of the track were available on her site. They quickly sold out: One features the song as it appears in the film, another is an acoustic version and the last is a piano version.

“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,” “Toy Story 5” director and writer Andrew Stanton said in a press statement at the time. “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.”