Taylor Swift’s song “I Knew It, I Knew You” was a surprise for production members of Toy Story 5, who were unaware that the megastar contributed a track for the upcoming film.
Variety reports that the film’s VFX supervisor, Thomas Jordan, discussed the song’s origins during a panel at SXSW London on Friday (June 5). Apparently, Jordan had known about Swift’s tune since February, long before most of the team.
“Turns out, Taylor Swift is a huge ‘Toy Story’ fan like many of us,” Jordan said during the event. “She actually saw an early version of the film, she requested to see it before it was finished and she wrote the song and then asked us if we wanted it. And we said, ‘Uh, yes! Yes we do.’”
“That was in February, so we’ve had to keep it a secret ever since then,” he added.
The VFX supervisor explained that “a very small group” of Toy Story 5 team members knew about “I Knew It.” To keep the secret while showing the movie to early press and Pixar-Disney staff, a “decoy version” of TS5 had to be created.
“The crew that made ‘Toy Story 5’ did not know about this secret until last week,” Jordan revealed.
Penning a song for the fifth installment of the Toy Story franchise was a dream come true for the 14-time Grammy winner, who posted an Instagram dedication to the movie this week.
“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time,” Swift captioned. “Creating something for [Toy Story character] Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once. And being a @toystory kid from the age of 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”
The singer-songwriter also thanked her co-songwriter, Jack Antonoff, along with musician Randy Newman, the artist behind iconic Toy Story anthem “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
Toy Story 5, which sees the return of voice actors Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack, releases to theaters on Friday, June 19.
