Now that Toy Story 5 is in theaters, one behind-the-scenes story from its making is making the rounds, and it’s a good one.
In one of his final acts as Disney CEO, Bob Iger met personally with Taylor Swift to hear her original song for the film before stepping down from the company he led for nearly two decades. Iger shared the moment publicly with a photo of the two, calling it “one of my last days as CEO of Disney and a truly memorable one,” and the story has taken on added resonance now that Toy Story 5 has officially opened to audiences worldwide.
A Full Circle Moment
Iger’s tenure at Disney was defined by transformative acquisitions, including Pixar in 2006, the studio that created Toy Story. Having one of the last significant moments of his final chapter as CEO involve a Pixar film and one of the biggest artists in the world feels fitting in a way that few planned publicity moments ever do.
The meeting itself turned out to be even more remarkable than it first appeared. As Variety reported, Swift revealed she watched Toy Story 5 at an 11 a.m. screening, got what she called “the songwriter zoomies,” and wrote, produced, and recorded the entire song that same day, with Iger and Walt Disney Music president Tom MacDougall arriving at 9 p.m. to hear the finished track. Swift called it “one of the most fun days of my life.”
Swift’s song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” debuted on June 5 and broke multiple streaming records in the days that followed, topping the Billboard Hot 100 as Pixar’s first-ever chart-topping song. It is heard during the end credits of Toy Story 5, which opened June 19 to a $71 million opening day and a franchise-record domestic weekend.
What Comes Next for Disney
With Iger now departed, Disney enters a new era of leadership as Toy Story 5 becomes one of the studio’s biggest opening weekends in recent memory. The timing makes this more than a feel-good anecdote. It marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, with Pixar’s most beloved franchise leading the way.
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