You’re a cowboy like me.
Photo: Aeon/GC Images
Seven months after The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift has made her return to country with a new song for Toy Story 5. Written by Swift and Jack Antonoff, “I Knew It, I Knew You” is a heartbreaking ballad inspired by Jessie’s journey in the upcoming movie. “Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time,” Swift wrote on Instagram. “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 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.” She thanked her friend Antonoff as she praised the original film for filling their childhood’s with imagination: “We wrote this with so much adoration for these characters that made us laugh and helped us learn lessons and think outside the backyard all throughout our childhoods.”
The song gives Jessie’s heartbreak a redemption arc. “I remembered I loved you/Came back when it mattered,” Swift sings in the chorus. “I saw you, standing there in the light of the window/Wearing that same smile.” In Toy Story 2, where we first meet Jessie, we learn that she was abandoned by her first kid, Emily. While she eventually found a new home with Andy and later with Bonnie, she still held on to that wound. But it looks like she might’ve healed her heart as Swift sings of someone reuniting with an old friend like no time has passed.
Sign up for the Vulture Daily
An entertainment newsletter for the pop-culture obsessed.
Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice
Related
