Taylor Swift surprises Toy Story 5 premiere with new song

Taylor Swift’s surprise appearance at the Toy Story 5 premiere in Los Angeles turned a standard red-carpet launch into a full-scale entertainment event. At the Dolby Theatre, Swift sat at a piano in a full-length gown, premiered “I Knew It, I Knew You,” and later joined Randy Newman for a duet on “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”

The moment was more than celebrity theater. Disney said the new song was written and produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff, will be included on the Toy Story 5 soundtrack when it arrives on June 19, and was inspired by Jessie’s storyline. Swift has said the film’s soundtrack brought her back toward her country roots, while Andrew Stanton said she immediately understood Jessie’s emotional journey and that the song felt like it belonged in the Toy Story universe.

That kind of exclusive is exactly what studios are chasing as audiences scatter across streaming, social platforms and niche fandoms. Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures have set Toy Story 5 to open only in theaters on June 19, 2026, giving the premiere a 10-day runway to build momentum. By attaching Swift’s first public performance of the song to the rollout, Disney linked the movie directly to one of the biggest fan bases in pop music and ensured a surge of instant online attention.

The premiere also drew the franchise’s core voices and a packed celebrity crowd. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Scarlett Spears, Conan O’Brien and Greta Lee were among those in attendance, and Variety reported that the audience gave Swift a standing ovation. Deadline reported that Swift asked Hanks, Allen and Cusack to sign an original Toy Story VHS she brought to the event, a detail that underlined how tightly the evening connected the franchise’s past to its latest reset.

Swift said at the premiere that it meant the world to her to be a small part of the films and that Toy Story 5 was her favorite in the series. Hanks later said the song had been kept “top secret” from the cast until release day, a reminder of how carefully Disney and Pixar controlled the reveal. Pixar describes the film as “Toy meets Tech,” with Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang confronting kids’ obsession with electronics, and the premiere’s combination of nostalgia, new music and star power made clear why the studio wanted Swift at the center of the launch.