“Got so inspired, got the songwriter zoomies. Went home, wrote the song for Toy Story 5. We have now produced it and I’m doing vocals”: Taylor Swift appears to confirm that I Knew It, I Knew You was written, recorded and produced in around eight hours
Swift by name…
Life moves pretty fast in Taylor Swift’s world. In fact, she’s just revealed that she wrote, recorded and produced I Knew It, I Knew You – her new end credits song for Toy Story 5 – on the same day that she watched an early cut of the movie itself.
In a video posted on Instagram that was captured on the day in question, we see Swift addressing the camera. “Kind of a hectic day,” she begins. “At 11am, went to see Toy Story 5. Got so inspired, got the songwriter zoomies. Went home, wrote the end credits song for Toy Story 5. We have now produced it and I’m doing vocals. It’s 6.57pm.”
Explaining the fast turnaround, Swift says: “In two hours, Bob Iger [CEO of The Walt Disney Company] and Tom [MacDougall, president of Walt Disney Music] from Pixar are coming to hear it. We have not recorded it yet [the vocal], and I think this is one of the most fun days of my life.”
Sitting alongside Swift is recording and mixing engineer Laura Sisk, who worked alongside producer Jack Antonoff on the making of the record (Swift was a producer on the song, too).
The video confirms what Swift said when I Knew It, I Knew You was announced – that she wrote it “as soon as I got home from the screening.”
Assuming that Swift made it back around 1pm and her meeting with the execs was at 9pm, this means that her song was created in around eight hours, which is certainly pretty speedy.
We’re guessing that more production and mixing work was done after that, but the story provides further evidence of the worth ethic that has taken the star to the very top of her game. Swift by name, swift by nature.
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Toy Story 5 is released today.

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.
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