Taylor Swift has her biggest country hit in years with “I Knew It, I Knew You,” her original song for Toy Story 5; it’s currently #25 on the Mediabase radio chart.
Swift said in a new interview with ABC News that she was inspired by the journey of Jessie, the beloved cowgirl ragdoll in the animated movie franchise.
“We have seen her go through such heartbreak and such, you know, triumphs and loss, and we learned her back story,” Swift said in an interview that aired Wednesday on Good Morning America. “But in Toy Story 5, we see such a character development and, really, lessons that I could relate to as she’s grown up and as she has learned more about her experiences and her memories.”
The singer continued, “Just the feeling that, like, sometimes people’s paths diverge, and that doesn’t mean that that’s the last time that you get to feel those memories or know that person.”
When the song was released on June 5, Swift revealed that she collaborated on it with singer-songwriter and producer Jack Antonoff. She shared on social media that they wrote the song with “adoration” for the Toy Story characters that were staples of their childhoods.
Swift performed “I Knew It, I Knew You” for the first time live at the Toy Story 5 world premiere Tuesday night in Los Angeles. She also performed “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” alongside Randy Newman, the man who wrote and sang Toy Story’s signature tune.
Toy Story 5, a Disney and Pixar film, is scheduled to premiere in theaters on Friday, June 19. Swift posed at the film’s premiere with its stars, including Joan Cusack, who voices Jessie on the big screen.
The 14-time Grammy winner said that as a longtime Toy Story fan herself, it was a “poignant” moment for her to pen and perform a song for the movie’s latest release.
“I watched Toy Story when I was 5 and I’ve watched every single one of the films so many times,” she said. “So I really think that, like, to be able to be welcomed into something that has welcomed me, unknowingly, its entire existence, just as a fan, feels like very poignant for me and for my family.”
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