Taylor Swift joined Randy Newman to perform a duet of ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ at the Toy Story 5 premiere. Watch below.
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Last week, Swift shared ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’, a song she wrote and produced alongside Jack Antonoff specifically for the new film. The track is written from the perspective of cowgirl Jessie, and it sees Swift going back to her country roots.
At last night’s (June 9) premiere, Swift made a surprise appearance to perform her original track live for the first time.
Later in the night, she also joined Newman on stage for a duet of his beloved 1995 hit ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’, which is the theme of the franchise. Newman played piano as the pair swapped vocals – watch below.
🎥| Taylor is performing “I Knew It, I knew You” at the premiere! pic.twitter.com/7emk7VHtp2
— Taylor Swift Updates 💎 (@swifferupdates) June 10, 2026
🎥| “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” performed by Randy Newman and Taylor Swift! pic.twitter.com/nN3xG1hSB3
— Taylor Swift Updates 💎 (@swifferupdates) June 10, 2026
The film is released on June 19, but Swift’s involvement was only officially confirmed in recent days, despite the project having been in production for multiple years. It had, however, been the subject of rampant speculation among Swifties in recent months, something that Swift fuelled when she posted a cryptic countdown on her website in May.
Last week, it emerged that Disney had created a “decoy version” of the film to keep Swift’s involvement a secret, even from the cast and crew.
After the song was finally announced, Swift wrote: “I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a five year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie. 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?”
She added a video of herself as a child dressed as Jessie, noting: “Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time.
“Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once. And being a @toystory kid from the age of five til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”
The film will pick up after Woody left to stay with Bo Peep at the end of the last movie. Jessie is now the leader of Bonnie’s room, with Buzz Lightyear her second-in-command, but Bonnie is now enamoured with her new favourite toy, a frog-like tablet named Lilypad.
Bad Bunny is another music superstar involved in the project, after it was recently revealed that he will be the voice of a talking pizza slice, ‘Pizza With Sunglasses’, who is described as a forgotten toy living in an abandoned backyard shed.
