“Being a ‘Toy Story’ kid from the age of 5 til now … is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond,” Swift wrote on the song's release day
Credit: Taylor Swift/Instagram; Gregory Shamus/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Taylor Swift broke streaming records on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music with the release of her Toy Story 5 song
- “I Knew It, I Knew You” now has the “all-time record for the biggest soundtrack single” on a release day on Apple Music
- Swift, using a popular Toy Story line, wrote on release day, “Being a Toy Story kid from the age of 5 til now … is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond”
Swifties and Toy Story fans are memorizing the sound of Taylor Swift’s new Toy Story 5 song en masse — helping her break streaming records.
Hours after Swift, 36, released “I Knew It, I Knew You” on Friday, June 5, several streaming services announced that she had already broken some release-day records with the harmonica-and-banjo-infused country track.
Apple Music revealed that “I Knew It, I Knew You” became the streaming platform’s “biggest country single of 2026” and broke the “all-time record for the biggest soundtrack single, based on first-day plays.”
Meanwhile, Spotify shared that the song is now “the most-streamed country song in a single day by a female artist in Spotify history.”
Amazon Music announced that the country song had “the biggest first 24-hour streaming debut globally for any song” in 2026.
Swift and Pixar built anticipation for “I Knew It, I Knew You” with several Easter eggs hinting at the pop star's potential involvement with Toy Story 5.
Then, on June 1, the “Mastermind” singer confirmed the rumors, announcing that she had created a song for the film’s soundtrack.
“I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5 year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie,” Swift wrote on social media. “I fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5 when I was lucky enough to see it in its early stages, and I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening. Sometimes you just know, right?”
Credit: Disney/Pixar
Four days later, on June 5, Swift released the audio for “I Knew It, I Knew You” on streaming services and a music video — comprised of a compilation of memorable Toy Story moments featuring the cowgirl rag doll Jessie — exclusively on Apple Music and Spotify Premium.
“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time,” Swift captioned an Instagram video of herself as a kid wearing cowgirl attire. “Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once.”
“And being a Toy Story kid from the age of 5 til now … is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond,” she continued.
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Swift went on to thank people who worked on the film and the song.
“Thank you to the brilliant Andrew Stanton for imagining me for this, all those years ago when you wrote this newest film,” she said. “Thank you to the incomparable Randy Newman for the gorgeous sonic tapestry of songs and scores you’ve meticulously woven over the years. You created the Toy Story musical world, and we are lucky to get to live in it.”
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Swift concluded, “By we, I mean myself and my pal Jack Antonoff. We wrote this with so much adoration for these characters that made us laugh and helped us learn lessons and think outside the backyard all throughout our childhoods.”
Toy Story 5 is in theaters on June 19.
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