Taylor Swift is sharing the inspiration behind “I Knew It, I Knew You,” her original song for Toy Story 5.
The Grammy-winning singer says an early screening of the Pixar film sparked the idea for the track, which was inspired by Jessie, the beloved cowgirl first introduced in 1999’s Toy Story 2.
“We’ve seen her have her heart broken. Like, we’ve watched, you know, the car pull away,” Swift said. “I get really emotional talking about this.”
Jessie’s backstory was memorably told through Randy Newman’s Oscar-nominated song “When She Loved Me.”
After seeing an early screening of the film, Swift called longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff with an idea for a song.
“I called him up and I just really quickly blurted out, like, I got to see the new Toy Story. I have to tell you all about the film, but we need to write this song. We need to write this song,” Swift said. “It was just, I was so excited. It was such a frenetic form of excitement.”
The country-leaning ballad explores friendship, memories and reconnecting with people from different chapters of life.
“What means a lot to me about this song is that in life you have friendships, you have memories with people, you form bonds, and then sometimes a path takes you a different way,” Swift said. “Sometimes you see somebody again down the road and you’re just like, ‘Man, it’s been a while.’ Like, but you’re the same person that I had all these memories with.”
Toy Story 5 follows Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Jessie as they face a new challenge when Bonnie receives a frog-shaped tablet named Lilypad, whose ideas about play threaten to upend the toys’ world.
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