Taylor Swift took the stage at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on June 9 to perform "I Knew It, I Knew You," the original song she co-wrote with Jack Antonoff for Toy Story 5, before joining franchise composer Randy Newman for a rendition of the classic "You've Got a Friend in Me."
In moments captured by participants at the event, the performance opened with a curtain rising to reveal a colorful sky with the movie's title. Swift, seated at a piano in a flowing yellow gown, performed the new song before stepping forward to address the audience.
"It means the world to me to be a small part of the universe of these films," she said. "Toy Story 5 is my favorite of all the Toy Stories. I'm so lucky that I get to be a part of this."
She spoke warmly about Joan Cusack, who voices Jessie — the character at the heart of the new song.
"Joan Cusack has done such an extraordinary job as Jessie. It was an honor to write for her," she added.
Swift credited the film's co-directors and co-writers for bringing her into the project.
"I'm very lucky that I got to write for this film, and that's all thanks to Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, who wrote and directed this film and thought of me and reached out to me and let me get to experience it and be inspired by it," she said.
She then turned her attention to Newman, who has composed music across all five films in the franchise, describing him in expansive terms before he came out on stage.
"He is the king of making us feel the absolute most and pulling at our heartstrings and making us laugh. He's one of our friends. I'm talking about Randy Newman," she said before he came out on the stage.
Newman and Swift shared banter before launching into the song.
"Very kind of you. Thank you for the kind words. I deserve them," Newman told the audience, drawing laughs before quickly adding, "Alright, I don't deserve them."
He then turned to Swift: "You wrote a hell of a song."
"Oh, thank you so much," Swift replied. "This feels like a really good day, just personally. Do you feel like playing a song? You're all set up to do it."
Newman led the first verse, with Swift taking two others. At one point, as she sang the lyric "Some folks might be a little bit smarter than I am," Newman cut in: "No one's smarter than you!" Swift laughed and turned away as he continued his line, before the two fell back into trading verses to close out the song.
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