Taylor Swift has notably had many eras of her music career. Her “Toy Story 5” song “I Knew It, I Knew You” might mark a next one.
While others in the global superstar’s expansive canon deal with themes of memory, closure and clarity, “this song truly feels like it's a new experience for me as a songwriter,” Swift said during a Nov. 13 Critics Choice Association virtual press conference. “In terms of the specific type of gratitude that this song is about, it just feels like it's sort of something I've arrived at more recently in my life.”
Swift, 36, wrote “I Knew It” for Jessie, Joan Cusack’s longtime cowgirl character in the “Toy Story” franchise. In “Toy Story 5” (streaming on Disney+), Jessie is the central character in a narrative that takes
her and faithful steed Bullseye back to the farmhouse home of her original kid, Emily.
For years, Jessie felt she’d been abandoned by Emily – a revelation that occurred in 1999’s “Toy Story, 2” but the cowgirl learns in the new film that it wasn’t the case and Emily always remembered her.
“When I was watching this film, I was so struck by the lessons that Jessie learned,” Swift said. “They resonated with me because they were lessons I've learned in my life, and maybe I wouldn't have been able to write this song until I was in my 30s, because it takes you a long time to process and perceive memory with acceptance.”
“I Knew It,” which Swift co-wrote and co-produced with Jack Antonoff, has already proven a hit in the music industry, topping Billboard charts. But it’s also Swift’s best shot yet at earning her first Oscar nomination for best original song.
Swift has been a fan of the “Toy Story” movies since she saw the first one at age 5 – now, as an adult, the singer rewatches them all as a holiday tradition. And Jessie has always been a character close to her heart.
“When you first meet her, she's this unapologetic, loud, wild, unruly, fun, exciting person,” Swift said. “But when I look back now, there was heartbreak that she was carrying with her every day.”
Jessie’s also fearless in taking on fresh challenges, something that Swift finds inspiring: “Being in the entertainment industry, I've always just felt like it's harder to hit a moving target,” she said. “Once people feel like they figured you out creatively, they usually move into the discardment phase, and so that would always be where I would try to pivot. Rather than looking at that as something exhausting and daunting, I look at it as something that's just a new adventure.”
Compared to writing her own songs, Swift feels more pressure penning a tune like “I Knew It” “because you really want to get it right for this character you love,” she said. At the same time, “there is a pressure-release valve of not having to write about my personal life and being able to absorb myself in a story.”
In some ways, "I Knew It" is like a normal Swift song: The lyrics balance the literal and allegorical – "I love a double meaning," she confessed – and she brought in some country-music elements because of Jessie's TV cowgirl roots. But Swift also looked to "Toy Story" music man Randy Newman as a catalyst to push her own boundaries, from chord progressions to instrumentation. "I've never used a virginal harpsichord," she said with a laugh.
One of her biggest highlights of her "Toy Story 5" journey in 2026 – a pretty marquee year for her in general – was performing with Newman at the world premiere in June, and Swift feels like she relates more to "I Knew It" every time she hears or sings it.
"I never know how I'm going to experience a song the longer it's out in the world," Swift said. But "it makes me feel kind of comforted.
"It's fun when you're proud of your work. And it's really fun when you get to be a part of something that's really beyond any of your wildest fantasies."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taylor Swift says 'Toy Story 5' song reflects where she is 'in my 30s'
