The countdown is over, though there's certainly plenty of intrigue still to come. After the countdown timer ran down, Taylor Swift dropped the news fans had been waiting for: an original song from Toy Story 5, "I Knew It, I Knew You," will be released this Friday. Disney is billing it as a "return to country" for the superstar, tied to the franchise's cowgirl character, Jessie.
The track was co-written and produced by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff, who returns to collaborate with the star after his last appearance on her album, The Tortured Poets Department.
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The song is available as a CD single from its online store. In addition to the studio version, additional acoustic and piano versions are also available. The CDs are available there until Wednesday evening as part of a limited run and will ship on June 19, the day of the film's theatrical release.
The digital countdown to the news was everywhere, from Swift's online store to a Times Square billboard, as June 1st truly became New Year's Eve for Swift fans.
«"It's Toy Story," Swift wrote in a message to fans, adding a smiling face in a cowboy hat emoji, further hinting that she's working on a film centered around the cowgirl character Jessie. "You knew it! My new original song 'I Knew It, I Knew You' for Disney and @Pixar @toystory 5 will be out June 5th. I've always dreamed of writing songs for these characters, who I've adored since I was five and watched the first Toy Story.".
Disney stated: "Inspired by the ongoing journey of Jessie, the spunky cowgirl from Toy Story 5 that began in Toy Story 2, 'I Knew It, I Knew You' also marks a return to Taylor Swift's country roots, blending the styles that have defined her record-breaking career as a songwriter and performer.".
In a statement, writer and director Andrew Stanton said, "It was incredible how meaningful it was for me to have Taylor write and perform this song. Her connection to Jessie and how quickly she understood what she was going through was undeniable. The song is so deeply connected to Toy Story. So much so that upon first listening, it immediately felt like it had always been there, like a long-lost family member. It was destiny.".
The film opens on June 19, with a gala premiere next week, which may shed light on whether the song is Swift's only contribution to the film.
Why was the news about Swift's film announced today, given that nothing in her life is accidental? Firstly, June 1st is National Cloud Database Day, which, as Swift fans have noted, isn't the most important day on the national calendar, making it the perfect date for news from a woman who's clearly already seen clouds from 13 angles.
Hints of Swift's possible involvement in Toy Story 5 began back in April, but became truly evident on Friday, when billboards appeared across the country featuring the abbreviation "TS" surrounded by 13 cartoon clouds, symbolizing her oft-used lucky number. Over the weekend, Disney social media accounts continued to poke fun at her, posting tweets with paraphrased Swift song lyrics as captions for the billboard images, some of which featured the character Jessie.
When the countdown timer appeared on Swift's website on Monday morning, it featured an image of a ranch-style home, Jessie dancing on the roof of a barn, and the word "TS" emblazoned on a hillside, slightly detracting from the billboard's rural ambiance.
The creators of "TS5" teased the public a bit. In a video interview released last week before the promotional campaign began, they evasively addressed rumors that Taylor Swift had written a song for the film. The rumors "surprised us. We'd be flattered as hell," said director Andrew Stanton. He then clarified, "The sad truth is, we watched the mixdown last week, and the song at the end wasn't a Taylor Swift song." This immediately fueled speculation that Swift had a song she was supposedly performing in the film.
The hints from Swift's team became even more subtle when fans noticed that her official lyrics posted online had been altered so that the letters "T" and "S" were capitalized in the words of the fifth song on each of her albums.
Fans also noted that the June 19th release date of Toy Story 5 coincides with the anniversary of Swift's first single, "Tim McGraw." Swift herself has said she has a finished version of her debut album, in the style of "Taylor's Version," which she plans to release someday. So there were theories linking these events, but how exactly remained a mystery... unless Jessie harbored a deep love for the 2006 album of the same name, often referred to simply as "Debut" in Swift fan circles.
Monday's announcement didn't provide any evidence that such a connection would actually happen, but clearly there's much more to be revealed.
For those keeping an eye on the charts, "I Knew It, I Knew You" will have two weeks to impact the charts starting this Friday, after which the song will get a significant boost in its third week thanks to sales of the CD singles, which are already on sale but won't ship until June 19th.
Jessie is known for inspiring important music in the Toy Story franchise. Her debut film, Toy Story 2, featured one of the most touching moments in the entire series, with Sarah MacLachlan performing "When She Loved Me," which earned songwriter Randy Newman an Oscar nomination.
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