Taylor Swift Debuts ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ At ‘Toy Story 5’ Premiere

Taylor Swift surprised fans on Tuesday at the world premiere of Toy Story 5 by performing “I Knew It, I Knew You” live for the first time. Swift also dueted with Randy Newman on “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” from the first Toy Story movie during the event held the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

“I Knew It, I Knew You” arrived on streaming services and as a music video last Friday, June 5 with no advance notice outside a series of mysterious “TS” billboards in major cities. Swift collaborated on her contribution to the Toy Story 5 soundtrack with singer-songwriter and producer Jack Antonoff. The song became the most-streamed country song in a single day by a female artist in Spotify history. It also set recorded on Apple Music.

Taylor Swift spoke about the inspiration for the song, the character Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) from the animated movie franchise, with ABC News in an interview that aired on Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning America. “We have seen her go through such heartbreak and such, you know, triumphs and loss and we learned her back story,” Swift said. “But in ‘Toy Story 5’ we see such a character development and, really, lessons that I could relate to as she’s grown up and as she has learned more about her experiences and her memories.”

Toy Story 5 will be released in theaters on June 19, the same day the soundtrack for the film arrives. At last night’s premiere, Taylor Swift debuted “I Knew It, I Knew You” in front of approximately 3,000 attendees at L.A.’s Dolby Theatre. Swift’s last proper performance of her own came in December 2024, when she ended her The Eras Tour.

“I would just love to say, it means the world to me to be a small part of the universe of these films, and Toy Story 5 is my favorite of all of the Toy Storys,” Swift told the audience after performing her new song. “I’m so lucky that I get to be a part of this, and I want to thank … all of the creators at Disney and Pixar for all the work they put into this film. It’s insanely beautiful. It’s a masterpiece. We’re so lucky to get to have this film out. Your work is amazing, and I hope you’re all so proud of yourselves. If you’re in this room and you worked on this film, thank you so much.”

Taylor Swift followed with a special introduction of Randy Newman. “I’m also lucky enough to be here because of someone else who is the architect of the Toy Story Musical Universe,” she added. “He is the king of making us feel the absolute most and pulling at our heartstrings, and making us laugh, and making us feel like he’s he’s one of our friends, you know what I mean? I’m talking about Randy Newman.”

Randy Newman sat at the piano for the joint “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” performance. “This feels like a really good day,” Swift exclaimed before Newman began the song. Taylor and Randy swapped verses throughout.

Watch Swift debut “I Knew It, I Knew You” and perform “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” with Randy Newman below: