Taylor Swift Reflects on Channeling Randy Newman for Her ‘Toy Story 5’ Track ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’

Taylor Swift approached her contribution to the Toy Story 5 soundtrack with deep reverence. In June, the global superstar marked her return to country music with the evocative single.

“It really hit me the weight of this, how lucky we were to get to take up what Randy Newman has created and continue that legacy,” Swift shared on American Country Countdown with Ryan Fox, referring to the country track “I Knew It, I Knew You,” co-written with Jack Antonoff for the film. “I just thought we’re gonna take these beautiful tapestries of musical art he’s created brushstroke by brushstroke, and we’re gonna try to create something that would go in that collection.”

Swift continued: “I’m a huge Randy Newman fan, so is Jack. Randy tends to go to really different kind of chord progressions and has very different musical sensibilities than I do. So we tried to channel that— what would Randy do?”

The singer-songwriter joined Newman onstage at the Toy Story 5 premiere in June, performing the acclaimed composer’s classic “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” Newman took over the piano keys as the pair traded vocals, his voice remaining as tender and warm as ever.

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Y’all Access with Kelly Sutton also aired an audio message from Swift, where she elaborated on the wistful single. The superstar’s rare appearance across country radio follows her return to the genre with “I Knew It, I Knew You,” as she has been reconnecting with country stations once more. Prior to the single’s release, Swift reportedly met with numerous country radio programmers to preview the song. While it may have simply been industry networking, it is difficult to imagine such steps were necessary. As RJ Curtis, executive director of Country Radio Broadcasters Inc., told Rolling Stone earlier this year, “I have said for a while now that given the right song, country radio will support her again and welcome her back with open arms, and it looks like she delivered in a huge way.”

Notably, “I Knew It, I Knew You” became an immediate success on country radio. It topped the Hot Country Songs chart and reached Number Eight on the Country Airplay chart, while also hitting Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. The track made further history by becoming the first song by a woman to close out the panel on impact, meaning every country radio station reporting to Mediabase agreed to play the song during its first week. In a note shared with the industry trade Country Aircheck, Swift wrote, “Man, it’s been a while! Thank you for making history with me. To infinity and beyond.”

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