Randy Newman on “Toy Story 5”, Taylor Swift and 30 Years of Soundtracking Pixar Magic: 'It's Been a Privilege' (Exclusive)

The decorated composer is once again scoring the adventures of Woody and Buzz Lightyear — and explaining what makes his work with Pixar last

NEED TO KNOW

• Randy Newman reflects on his 30-year collaboration with Pixar, starting with Toy Story‘s iconic “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”
• Newman shares insights on writing music for animated characters while balancing personal expression and storytelling
• He praises Pixar’s creative vision and recalls memorable moments, including working with Taylor Swift on Toy Story 5

It's an "assignment" for anyone, Randy Newman included, to get inside another person's head… especially when that head is made of plastic.

For the past three decades, that's exactly what the acclaimed singer-songwriter, 82, has achieved for the Toy Story franchise. He's soundtracked the uncertain feeling of being replaced by a shiny, new child's plaything in 1995's Toy Story (“Strange Things”); used melody to reminisce on a ragdoll's past in 1999's Toy Story 2 (“When She Loved Me”); and has continued his run through 2010's Toy Story 3 and 2019's Toy Story 4. Again soundtracking the series' latest release, Toy Story 5, Newman's scores have become synonymous with these characters and films, while the music has secured him a decent chunk of his 22 Academy Award nominations (and one of his two career wins).

But how much does Newman — whose film work began in the ‘60s — think of himself when he writes from the perspective of a pull-string doll and an intergalactic space ranger? “Nothing at all,” he tells PEOPLE.

“I mean, I'll occasionally say something that resonates to me personally,” Newman, whose solo music has spawned hits in “Sail Away” and “I Love L.A.," explains. “Novelists try to write themselves out of what they do. Songwriters are supposed to put themselves in what they do. The public likes them best when that happens.”

“But in these cases,” he shares, “I guess there's me in them musically, certainly.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Debuting "You've Got a Friend in Me" in November 1995's Toy Story, the first entirely CGI feature-length film from Pixar, Newman would eventually build a lasting relationship with the studio. Ten films and four Toy Story sequels later, his joyful tunes have left an unshakable legacy at Disney.

For the Friday, June 19 release of Toy Story 5, the acclaimed songwriter spent time with PEOPLE to reflect on his early franchise memories, welcoming Taylor Swift (and her new No. 1 single, "I Knew It, I Knew You") to a soundtrack, and why his partnership with Pixar remains fruitful.

The conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows below.

PEOPLE: When you signed on for that first film in 1995, did you think of it as a one-film job or did you see the potential of it being a franchise?

Randy Newman: No, it was a one-film job. No one, well, except [director] John Lasseter, seemed sure that this was headed for success. There was real uncertainty. I had three animated things that I was sort of doing at the time, Cats Don't Dance, James and the Giant Peach and Toy Story. And of the three, you would've thought that it had the most, sort of, tenuous existence. There was no certainty about it except with Lasseter. And they did such great work. I thought it might do well. It was funny. And all these pictures [at the time had] been real musically challenging, really because of all the different places they go and also big music opportunity. And it came out the best of those three pictures.

You've spoken in the past about “You've Got a Friend in Me” and the writing of that song. I watched interviews you did in 1995 [with Bobbie Wygant], you called it like a “gift.” Do you still see that song as a gift, the way that it came to you?

Yeah. They told me they wanted it to be about their friendship and almost nothing else. That was really the prime importance to them, that that was emphasized. So I said, "You Got a Friend. You've Got a Friend in Me. You've Got a Friend in Me." It came rather quickly. I think I kept it for a couple days so they wouldn't notice that I did it fast. Sometimes you do something fast and it works out very well.

I was proud of it because it was a satisfactory assignment, writing that I did for those three songs, “Strange Things,” “I Will Go Sailing No More” and “You've Got a Friend in Me.” I got Buzz's character okay. The Woody song is more generic about friendship and Jessie [in Toy Story 2] is good, that song.

I want to ask you about that song, too, because Toy Story 5 gives us a lot more insight into her story. We hear these previous songs re-imagined in the score and “When She Loved Me” comes into play a few times. How important was it for you to return to that song?

I thought it was good to have it to remind people, it did, of that moment, her story. It'd be like doing Star Wars without “da-da,” the whole thing.

A lot of kids cried to that song in Toy Story 2. The new movie certainly evokes similar emotions with the score. Do you consider it a challenge, writing music that would make a child feel sad or feel empathy?

If it's up there on the screen… I'll tell you, with that song, even after I wrote it, I said, "Are you really going to do this because are kids going to sit still for it?" And [the studio] said, "No, don't worry about that." And they were never worried about it. And I would worry about it. I mean, I would think attention spans and all and also the emotional place it went. I don't know that kids reacted by crying in the theater. I can't remember what the theater reaction was. I saw it with a bunch of six year olds and I was just glad that they laughed and liked it. They laughed at just the slapstick, but they got very quiet for other stuff and really listened. There wasn't any attention wavering out there. So that's a testament to what they did and to a degree, what I did. It held the interest. I wrote [the song] and they animated [it] to what I wrote. So I guess we both did a good job. That really worked.

I grew up with these films; Taylor Swift has too. She has this new track, “I Knew It, I Knew You.” What's it like for you to see someone who expresses how much these films have meant to her joining you on a soundtrack?

It was all real nice. I mean, other people have said it, but she's remarkably grounded and a really nice person, like a really nice Southern girl was what she was like. And it's absolutely unprecedented for me to meet someone who's that successful and famous and doesn't appear… I was looking for loopholes the first time, you know, and there weren't any. And she must have that happen all the time where people are looking at her real hard, looking for mistakes or something. But boy, she couldn't have been nicer.

What did you think of her song?

It was good, you know? It's reflective of these pictures. It was a good assignment.

This is your fifth Toy Story film. I believe it's your 10th Pixar film. What about this partnership still works for you today, 30 years later?

Well, they do good work. It's been a privilege to be connected with it. And I believe, to a degree, I've helped them do what they've done in Monsters and Cars 3 and [Cars] 1 and Toy Story. It's been a fairly… I mean, I never lifted my head up to notice, but when I do… You do more looking back now, with the streaming and all. You hear what you did. I never used to listen to what I did six weeks later, but I do now. And all those pictures were pretty good, the scores I did. And they're difficult jobs, not as difficult as Hook was for Johnny [Williams], but difficult jobs.

What do you hope the legacy of your scores for these Toy Story films will be?

Well, it'd be nice if they noticed that the music was good. But if it makes the picture work better, as hopefully that's what I try to do every time — everything I did, tried to do that — that's enough. If that scene worked with Andy and Bonnie trading toys and stuff [in Toy Story 3], when I saw it with the crowd, it really worked that scene. I was moved by it and so were they.

Toy Story 5 is now playing in theaters.

Read the full article here