Tim Allen’s Story Behind How The Toy Story Cast Found Out About Taylor Swift Is Giving Cranky Old Man (In The Best Way)
Toy Story 5 has finally arrived, and it has quite a bit to offer fans. Not only will franchise devotees get to revisit with the core characters play by most of the OG voice cast, but the Taylor Swift has a new single for the sequel! There was a lot of secrecy surrounding that new track, which is called “I Knew It, I Knew You” and, per Tim Allen, the cast even found out in a unique way. What makes Allen’s story about that particularly funny, though, are the humorously endearing cranky old man vibes that accompany it.
To provide some context first, though, Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton initially debunked rumors that Taylor Swift had an end credits song. Swifties were not convinced, though, especially when a “TS” billboard was exposed with a lyric caption from Swift’s “Shake It Off.” Ultimately, the film’s original song was confirmed when a Toy Story-themed countdown clock appeared on Swift’s official website on June 1st.
It’s unclear exactly when Allen and co. learned about the Swift news for himself amid that timeline. The actor and comedian recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (as shared to Instagram), where he recalled the moment someone firs attempted to tell him the Grammy winner would be involved with the 2026 movie schedule release, and it’s too funny:
[Me and Tom Hanks] are doing a press session in London and he shuts the door, ‘This doesn’t go anywhere.’ And there’s three of us, Joan [Cusak] was there too, and he says, ‘On Friday, Korea’s gonna get these posters. Starts in Korea, goes through Europe, and then America. TS.’ And we all go, ‘Yeah, Toy Story.’ ‘No, TS!’ Like they’re pissed. 37 million people know exactly what we’re talking about.
I love that! I mean, come on, Tim Allen, TS! The Swifties out there know who that is. I find it absolutely hilarious that the Home Improvement star didn’t catch on to the meaning of the coded initials and came back to Toy Story. But I’ve got to say, it’s a funny coincidence that the “Love Story” singer shares the same initials as the famed Pixar franchise, and that did help maintain a level of ambiguity amid the marketing.
Allen didn’t specify exactly who tried to tell him and Hanks about Taylor Swift’s involvement, though I’m thinking it was probably a media rep, or maybe it was marketing exec. Regardless, I’m chuckling, because Allen was seemingly thrown for a loop before realizing the truth:
We all went, ‘Yeah, okay.’ ‘You don’t mention this to anybody!’ And that was it. It was Taylor Swift. […] They said ‘She may sing the song, but we never said it!’ And I don’t know who we’re going to give it away to, you know, TMZ? What are we going to tell? What’s the story?
Taylor Swift crafting a song for a Toy Story movie is huge, so I can understand the level of scrutiny. As so many of her songs already sound like they belong in a Toy Story movie, she’s the perfect fit for the film. “I Knew It, I Knew You,” is all about reuniting with an old friend, with distance never allowing that person to ever leave their heart. The tune also ties into the film’s subplot of Jessie the Cowgirl missing her first owner, Emily. Fan reactions to T. Swift’s song have also been positive.
Someone else who’s been high on Swift’s involvement is Tom Hanks, and he revealed to Variety at the L.A. premiere of the Disney flick that he didn’t know Taylor Swift recorded the song until hours before it dropped:
It was top secret. We did not know until, literally, when the moment came. They ushered us into a soundproof room and said, ‘Tonight at 9 p.m., the true end titles song is going to drop, and it’s by Taylor Swift.’ And I was like, ‘You guys kept this from us all?’ And we saw the movie without [the song], we had some dummy thing in there. That’s like saying, ‘By the way, Judy Garland is singing “Over the Rainbow” at the beginning of this.’ That kind of thing.
I’d say that Tom Hanks was right there with Tim Allen in regard to giving off cranky old man energy, which I love. Still, it’s also great that since the two were alerted to Taylor Swift’s involvement, they’ve expressed excitement. There were even gracious enough to sign Swift’s VHS copy of the OG film at the premiere. If anything, this seems to prove that the power of Swift knows no bounds, even when it comes to seasoned celebrities who can be cranky at times.
Make sure to catch Toy Story 5 in theaters now, and feel free to check out other movies in the Disney+ subscription.
