Taylor Swift tops UK chart with ‘Toy Story 5’ song, says she had Randy Newman’s ‘blessing’ to write it

Taylor Swift’s new Toy Story 5 song “I Knew It, I Knew You” has scored the first of what will likely be multiple chart milestones.

The song has debuted at #1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart; it’s her seventh charttopper across the pond. She is tied with Michael Jackson, George Michael and U2 in terms of artists who’ve all scored seven #1 singles on that chart. 

Taylor is also now the first non-British artist to score two U.K. #1 hits in 2026; in February, she topped the chart with “Opalite.” The only other artist who’s had two U.K. #1 hits in 2026 is Harry Styles, with “Aperture” and “American Girls.”

Taylor wrote the song after the artist who’s most associated with Toy Story, Randy Newman, said it was OK for her to do so. Newman wrote and performed the franchise’s signature tune, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” plus several other songs for the movie series.

In ABC’s new 20/20 special Toy Story: 30 Years and Beyond, which airs Friday at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu, Taylor says that Newman has been “amazing and supportive and encouraging” in welcoming her to the franchise.

“Knowing I had his blessing to enter this world was really special for me and kind of helped ease what might have been a stressful situation, if I didn’t know that he was good with it,” she says.

“He’s got a way of just writing such intricate, yet beautifully pure, simple lyrics about how you feel that get to the heart of it,” she says of Newman’s songs. “They’re so complex. They’re exactly how you feel, and they’re so universal.”

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