Taylor Swift Announces New Song in Toy Story 5

After weeks of teases, Taylor Swift has announced a brand-new original song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” coming to Toy Story 5 when the upcoming Disney and Pixar film hits theaters on June 19, 2026. Here are full details, when and where you can listen to the song prior to the movie’s release, and our commentary as it relates to Walt Disney World.

The new “I Knew It, I Knew You” song is written and produced by Swift and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, and releases wherever music is streamed and purchased on Friday, June 5, 2026. In addition to appearing in the film, the single will be featured on the Toy Story 5 soundtrack when it releases on June 19, 2026.

Pre-sales for “I Knew It, I Knew You” begin today on Swift’s website for three exclusive CD editions that feature the new single as it appears in Toy Story 5, as well as a special acoustic version and a special piano version, all with unique vocals and production. The Taylor Swift merchandising machine makes Disney’s efforts almost appear quaint by comparison!

“I Knew It, I Knew You” is inspired by the rootin’ tootin’ cowgirl Jessie‘s ongoing journey in Toy Story 5 that began back in Toy Story 2. The song also marks a return to Swift’s country roots, blending styles that have defined her record-breaking career as a songwriter and artist.

Each CD is priced at $3.99 plus tax and shipping, with a limit of one of each per customer (which seems shockingly reasonable?!). All three are available for only 48 hours, until June 3, 2026, at 1:59 pm EST, or while supplies last.

Taylor Swift shared her excitement Instagram:

It’s a *Toy* Story

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.

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?

Toy Story 5 director and screenwriter Andrew Stanton said this:

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. 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.

Toy Story 5 revolves around a ‘Toy meets Tech’ theme according to Disney and Pixar. Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs are challenged when they’re introduced to what kids are obsessed with today….electronics!

The story is premised on the introduction of a tablet named Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee, into Bonnie’s life. However, recent comments from the film’s creatives have suggested that Lilypad is not the villain of Toy Story 5. Here’s hoping that’s because Pixar has something less obvious up their sleeve, and isn’t instead going to deliver a diluted “actually, tech is a tool” message. (I fear it’s the latter and feel like something as pointed as Wall-E would never get greenlit today.)

Toy Story 5 also features the return of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack, along with new cast members including Conan O’Brien, Craig Robinson, Shelby Rabara, and others. The movie is directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Kenna Harris and produced by Lindsey Collins.

The announcement follows a series of “TS” billboards, a play on Toy Story and Taylor Swift’s shared initials, that appeared over the weekend in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico City, and London. These fairly nondescript billboards (to my eye) also apparently contained cryptic clues that pointed to Swift, such as 13 clouds.

Today’s announcement was preceded by a Toy Story 5-themed countdown on Taylor Swift’s official website, along with billboards in New York and Los Angeles. This was the second such countdown, with a previous one pulled without explanation a few weeks ago, almost as if it was scheduled to go live prematurely.

Swift has collaborated with Disney multiple times in the last few years. Most recently, with a display of her Eras Tour costumes in Walt Disney Presents in Hollywood Studios, which was insanely popular for what it was. Even Santa Claus didn’t draw that long of a line at the walk-through exhibit.

Disney+ is the exclusive streaming home for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version). Disney also has the rights to the Eras Tour – The Final Show< and The End of an Era docuseries, and is believed to have signed a bigger overall deal that could see her behind the camera.

Our Commentary

I don’t have any profound insight about Taylor Swift as a musician and celebrity. I neither love nor hate her. I find much of her catalog fairly catchy and we have her ‘channel’ set as mutually-agreeable background music, but she’s not one of my top 50 artists of all-time. I don’t know the names of most of her songs, even if I’d recognize them.

What I find more fascinating is Taylor Swift as a cultural phenomenon. As the closest thing we have today to Michael Jackson or the Beatles. As a driver of consumer spending, economic impact, and the person who has made companies take note of the discretionary purchasing power of women.

It would be a mild understatement to say that Swift is popular, and her presence in Toy Story 5 will ensure that her fans go see that film. The movie was presumably going to be a box office smash, regardless, as Disney’s animated sequel machine now seems to be pretty well-oiled. But this makes Toy Story 5 a safer bet, and Disney needs a win after The Mandalorian and Grogu’s lackluster performance.

Box office results and who sings what in animated movies do not matter all that much to me. Those are ancillary issues at best, relevant to the extent that they impact the overall health of the company and synergy plays for the parks. This being a blog about Walt Disney World and Disneyland first and foremost, my primary concern is implications for the parks.

We’ve covered Taylor Swift and her potential presence at Walt Disney World several times here over the years, most recently during the hugely popular costume exhibit that ran in December and January. We’ve also discussed What Walt Disney World Can Learn from Taylor Swift after the blockbuster “Summer of Women.” We revisited that topic recently, and there’s a lot that WDW could take from Swift’s success.

With regard to a crossover with Taylor Swift at Walt Disney World, that’s something we previously discussed at length with the once seemingly-inevitable Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: Taylor’s Version. As a Muppets fan, I was relieved that Walt Disney World went that direction as opposed to backing up the Brinks truck to Taylor’s door for whatever her licensing fee would be. I was nevertheless surprised, and assumed the cost must’ve been prohibitive.

Or perhaps this was the plan all along! Maybe Walt Disney World never considered RnRC, but has always planned on doing a Slinky Dog Dash: Taylor’s Version ride reimagining. Or maybe Toy Story Mania: Taylor’s Version, where all of the targets are exes, Scooter Braun and Kanye. The kids will love it!

While a theoretical TS overlay of TS Land may need some workshopping, I legitimately think it would be a good idea for Walt Disney World to leverage the company’s partnership with Taylor Swift somewhere. At this point, something like Captain EO seems like the optimal outcome, and not just because of the obvious parallels between Swift and Michael Jackson, or because George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola have extra time on their hands.

The lessons of Swift’s success and female-driven consumption and spending are much more far-reaching than just potential Walt Disney World attractions, but that’s a bit beyond the scope of this post. Suffice to say, it would be savvy of Walt Disney World to more aggressively court women for their discretionary dollars, beyond just via merchandise, food & drinks, and limited-time offerings. And as has already been evidenced, there is a ton of crossover between Taylor Swift and Disney fans.

Ultimately, it makes perfect sense for Taylor Swift to have a song in Toy Story 5. I’m honestly surprised the partnership isn’t going a step further, and she isn’t also voicing a toy who could then have an in-park character presence. Even something as small as that would have major drawing power among her legions of fans. It would be great for Disney and Taylor Swift as she continues to cement her legacy as one of the most popular artists of all-time.

Eventually, there’s going to be something bigger between Disney and Swift than just songs, streaming concerts, and costume displays. There’s gotta be. Swift is focused on legacy building, Disney loves money, and the combined fandoms would eat up a major crossover. It’s a perfect pairing, just like Harry Potter and Disney or Nintendo and Disney (uh oh)…so of course, it’ll never happen, and Taylor Swift’s theme park rights will end up in Universal’s hands.

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Your Thoughts

What do you think of Taylor Swift having a song in Toy Story 5? Did you see the Eras Tour exhibit at Walt Disney Presents? Think there’s a bigger picture in-park partnership between Swift and Walt Disney World on the horizon? Agree or disagree with our commentary about Disney catering more towards women? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!