Taylor Swift Says She Didn’t Want to Take the ‘Toy Story 5’ Song Opportunity From Another Artist

Taylor Swift was excited by the idea of writing an original song for Toy Story 5 right from the outset, but she wanted to be sure she wasn’t pushing someone else out of the opportunity.

The 36-year-old pop star sat down for a Q&A with director Andrew Stanton following a special screening on Sunday (November 1), and discussed the process to getting her hit song “I Knew It, I Knew You” made for the Pixar film.

According to Billboard, Stanton was adamant Taylor was the only person he wanted for the job, as he wanted to change things up for the new film. Randy Newman has famously written the music for Toy Story since its 1995 inception, but Stanton wanted to go in a different direction with the “Opalite” singer.

“Nothing else made sense,” the filmmaker said.

Taylor was initially unavailable and Stanton said they just weren’t going to have an original end credits song. The singer continually reached out to him to ensure they still wanted her and that no one else had stepped in to replace her. She said she would have understood since it took her months to get back to the movie.

Not long after the song debuted, the multi-Grammy winner revealed what the lyrics really mean and the song’s double meanings.

“I don’t want to kick somebody off of this project that you reached out to after [me],” she added. “I understand, but I’m not in the business of doing that.”

Taylor did end up writing the song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” and it became a no. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and broke multiple records. It has also garnered Oscar buzz, with Taylor performing it at the Academy Museum Gala last month and over the summer at a Grammys Icon Session.

A Toy Story 5 producer also memorably wrote Taylor a personal letter asking her to write the song for the Pixar film.

Posted To:Music Taylor Swift Toy Story 5