Taylor Swift frequently sends her global horde of devoted fans into a manic frenzy with nothing more than a vague social media post. Sometimes they tease huge news. Sometimes they lead to nothing but clown shoes. On April 30th there wasn’t much mystery, though. The pop star wasn’t exactly subtle with her new “secret” message. For about ten minutes she posted a countdown that featured the iconic clouds from Andy’s room in Toy Story. Before she quickly took it down it was set to go off on May 2. Turns out we needed to wait an extra month to find out what it’s about. After days of teasing her involvement in the film, Disney and Pixar have finally revealed how she’s involved with Toy Story 5.
Toy Story will become “Tay Story” thanks to a new original song from Swift titled “I Knew It, I Knew You.” And yes obviously there’s a bunch of merch involved with this announcement.
From digital billboards, Jessie dancing to “Shake It Off,” and Swift putting her Toy Story timer back up on her own official site with an actual countdown, there wasn’t any mystery over her involvement with the film. All we needed to know when the clock struck zero at 2 pm Eastern on June 1 was exactly what it meant. Previously the film’s director Andrew Stanton addressed one major fan theory. He shot it down when he said a new song from Swift would not play over the movie’s end credits. But as many noted, he shot down the idea if a new Swift song playing over the end credits, not that one couldn’t play at any point. And that’s what we’re going to get.
Swift’s countdown disappeared to reveal three different double-sided CDs for fans to purchase of her original song for the film. The CDs includes both an acoustic version and a piano one. Each listing said it would be for sale for 48 hours or until they sellout. Considering what we know about her fans we don’t expect them to last 48 minutes.
“It’s incredible just how meaningful it’s been having Taylor write and perform this song,” said Standton in a press release. “Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable. The song is so deeply connected to Toy Story. So much so that on first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member. It was kismet.”
After all that speculation it turned out to be the most logical theory: a new song. Not that the franchise needed her help, but Swift’s involvement could help Toy Story 5 become the most successful entry in the franchise yet. Will it? There’s no mystery when we’ll find out. Pixar’s “Tay Story” comes to theaters on June 19.