The countdown is over, but there’s no doubt that more suspense awaits. As the countdown clock ticked down, Taylor Swift announced the news her fans have been waiting for: her original song “I Knew It, I Knew You” from Toy Story 5, which will be released this Friday. And Disney is promoting it as a “return to country” for the crossover superstar, tying it to the series’ toy cowgirl character, Jessie.
The song was co-written and co-produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff, who reunited with Swift after appearing on her album The Tortured Poets’ Department.
The song is available as a CD single from her webstore, with additional “acoustic” and “piano” versions available in addition to the studio performance. The CD will be on sale there in limited edition until Wednesday afternoon and will be shipped on June 19, the day the movie opens in theaters.
Digital countdowns of the news were everywhere from Swift’s web store to billboards in Times Square, making June 1st a New Year’s Eve for Swift.
“This is Toy Story,” Swift wrote in a message to fans, along with a smiling emoji wearing a cowboy hat, another hint that the song is inherently tied to the film’s cowgirl character, Jessie. “You know it! My new original song for Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5, ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ll be yours on June 5th. Ever since I saw the first Toy Story movie when I was a 5-year-old kid, I’ve always dreamed of writing songs for my favorite characters.I was lucky enough to see Toy Story 5 in its early stages and instantly fell in love with it.
Disney’s press release for the song goes as far as Swift herself has not decided on a genre, saying, “Inspired by the journey of the die-hard Tootin’ Cowgirl Jessie in Toy Story 5, which began with Toy Story 2, ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ is also a return to Taylor Swift’s country roots, blending the styles that have defined her record-breaking career as a songwriter and artist.”
“We can’t believe how meaningful it is to have Taylor write and perform this song,” said writer and director Andrew Stanton in a statement. “There’s no denying her connection to Jesse and her instant understanding of what the character is going through. This song is so tied to Toy Story.” The moment I heard it for the first time, I felt as if it had been there all along, as if I were part of a long-lost family. It was kismet. ”
The film opens June 19th and will have a gala premiere next week, which may determine whether this song is Swift’s only contribution to the film.
There are no coincidences in Swift’s world, so why was today the day to announce Swift’s news about this movie?Well, first, as Swifties have just discovered, June 1st is National Cloud Database Day. It’s not a very important day in the country’s calendar, so it’s an ideal day to share the news from the woman who is currently clearly observing clouds from 13 directions.
Hints that Swift was somehow involved in Toy Story 5 began in April, but things really got more subtle on Friday, when signs with the acronym TS surrounded by 13 cartoon clouds, representing her favorite lucky number, went up across the country. Disney’s social media accounts got even meaner over the weekend, posting tweets paraphrasing Swift’s lyrics as captions for billboard images, some featuring the character Jesse.
Countdown clock to ‘Toy Story 5’ is ticking on Taylor Swift’s web store
store.taylorswift.com
The creators of “TS5” were making fun of themselves. In a video interview released last week ahead of the billboard campaign, they were silent when asked about rumors that Swift had written a song for the film. “The chatter surprised us, and we’re very honored,” said coach Andrew Stanton. “The sad truth is, we saw the movie being mixed last week and the song that played at the end was not a Taylor Swift song.” It immediately sparked expectations that there might be a song that Swift dances to elsewhere in the film.
When the countdown clock was posted on Swift’s website on Monday morning, it featured graphics of a rural ranch, Jesse dancing on top of a barn, and a “TS” ad on a hillside, bringing billboard desolation to the quiet countryside. This isn’t just a random promotional setting, it’s Jesse’s old home and an important setting for the film.
Variety recently reported on a screening of the first half-hour of the film, stating that the fifth film “centers on her (Jesse). … In the film, Jesse finds herself returning to her old home, but Emily no longer lives there. There’s a new family living there, a young girl named Blaise (Mikal-Michelle Harris). …Jesse’s storyline promises to be emotional.” One is when she is forced to consider some memories about the house, Emily, and the abandonment issue. ”
The teasing from Swift’s camp became more complicated after fans noticed that her official online lyrics had been changed to capitalize the letters “T” and “S” throughout the lyrics of the fifth song on each of her albums.
Fans also noted that Toy Story 5’s June 19 release date coincides with the anniversary of the release of Swift’s first single, “Tim McGraw.” And the singer said he has a “Taylor’s Version” version of his debut album in a can and plans to release it someday. So, while some theories have them connected in some way, how it all came to be a deep mystery…unless Jesse had a deep love for her 2006 self-titled album, often referred to in Swiftie circles as simply “the debut.”
There was no evidence in Monday’s announcement that such a partnership was planned, but there’s clearly a lot that remains to be seen.
For chart watchers, “I Knew It, I Knew You” will take two weeks to make an impact on the charts as a full streaming release starting this Friday, and then in the third week the song will get a big boost from sales of the CD single, which is out now but won’t ship until June 19th.
Jesse has a history of inspiring important music for the Toy Story series. Her film, Toy Story 2, featured Sarah McLachlan singing “When She Loved Me,” one of the most emotional scenes in the entire movie, and earned songwriter Randy Newman an Oscar nomination.
