At the end of May 2026, billboards went up in Chicago, Los Angeles, London and other cities showing two letters, “TS”, against the blue sky and white clouds every Toy Story fan knows. Fans counted the clouds. There were 13, Taylor Swift’s well-known lucky number.
Was it Toy Story? Was it Taylor Swift? For a few days, nobody official would confirm it. That uncertainty did more marketing than any trailer could, and most of it ran on channels Swift doesn’t own.
The Teaser Ran on Other People’s Channels
The usual album rollout is an artist talking to fans through their own accounts. This one worked differently. The teasing ran through Pixar’s Instagram, TikTok search and the streaming services, and Swift confirmed nothing until June 1.
On Saturday, May 30, Pixar posted the billboard on Instagram next to a clip of Jessie dancing, with a caption fans read as a nod to “Shake It Off”. From the same day, searching “Taylor Swift” on TikTok brought up an animation of Toy Story-style clouds drifting across the screen.
Clues turned up on the streaming services too. On Apple Music, Spotify and other platforms, the seagulls on the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) cover were swapped for clouds. Swift’s Essentials playlist was changed to hold only the fifth track from each of her albums, and fans reported that every S and T in those songs’ displayed lyrics had been capitalised.
None of these moves needed a press release. Each one was small enough to be a coincidence and specific enough that it obviously wasn’t. Fans did the rest, screenshotting and connecting the pieces across platforms.
The Denial and the Decoy
Some of the most effective marketing in this campaign was secrecy.
Earlier in the spring, a countdown with sky-blue, cloud-filled imagery had appeared on Swift’s website, and it was taken down before its May 2 end point. In May, director Andrew Stanton told reporters: “The sad truth is we watched the movie being mixed last week, and the song on the end was not Taylor Swift.” According to NME, the “TS” billboard appeared a day after the film’s creators denied the rumour.
Whatever the intent behind the denial, it did not end the speculation. It sharpened it.
Inside Pixar, the secret was kept tight. Thomas Jordan, the film’s VFX supervisor, said at a SXSW London panel on June 5 that only “a very small group” knew about the song. A decoy version of the film without it was made for press screenings and staff who were not in on it, and Jordan said the wider crew “did not know about this secret until last week.” He had known since February, when Swift offered the song after seeing an early version of the film.
Most independent artists won’t need a decoy cut of a feature film. The principle is still useful: the fewer people who know, the more the reveal lands.
The Reveal: “You Knew It”
On June 1, Swift confirmed it on Instagram: “It’s a Toy Story 🤠 You knew it!” The song was called “I Knew It, I Knew You”, a title that answered weeks of fan guessing in its own words.
The rollout moved fast from there:
- The song came out on June 5, two weeks before Toy Story 5 opened in cinemas on June 19.
- For 48 hours, fans could preorder one of three collector’s edition CDs for $3.99 each.
- Swift wrote and produced the track with Jack Antonoff.
Her own explanation was short. “I fell instantly in love with ‘Toy Story 5’ when I was lucky enough to see it in its early stages, and I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening. Sometimes you just know, right?” she said.
A Song Written for a Character
The song wasn’t a generic tie-in. The announcement said it was inspired by Jessie’s story in Toy Story 5, an arc that began back in Toy Story 2, and Stanton said Swift’s “connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable.”
That matters for marketing as much as for music. A song tied to a specific character arc gives the film a reason to push it and gives fans of both a shared reference point. The press release also framed the track as honouring Swift’s country roots.
Country radio was part of the release plan. The single came out on Pixar/Walt Disney/Republic Records, with country radio promotion by MCA Nashville.
What It Added Up To
“I Knew It, I Knew You” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated June 20, 2026. In its first tracking week it drew 27.2 million official streams and 46.7 million in radio airplay audience, and sold 87,000 copies, 17,000 of them through the three CD singles.
Billboard noted it was only the third Hot 100 number one from an animated Disney film, after songs from Aladdin (1993) and Encanto (2022), and the first from Pixar. It was also Swift’s 15th Hot 100 number one.
For context: Swift’s twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, had arrived the previous October. The Toy Story song put her in front of a cinema audience between album campaigns.
Lessons for Independent Artists
This was a Disney and Pixar campaign with Taylor Swift at its centre. You can still borrow the structure.
Treat a sync placement as a marketing channel
A placement in a film, show, game or ad isn’t only a licensing fee. The partner has audiences, social accounts and a reason to promote the song. Plan the release around their calendar. Our guide to sync licensing for independent artists covers how placements work.
Write for the story you are placed in
Swift’s song was about Jessie, not about Swift. A track written for a specific scene, character or campaign is easier for the partner to champion than one dropped in from your back catalogue.
Let partners tease on their own channels
Ask the venue, the festival, the brand or the director to post first. A clue from someone else’s account feels like a discovery. The same clue from yours feels like an ad.
Keep the circle small
If a collaboration is meant to be a surprise, limit who knows. Pixar’s decoy cut is the extreme version, but the logic scales down to keeping a feature off a shared drive until it’s announced.
Make the first purchase easy
Three CDs at $3.99 for 48 hours is a low-friction way to turn curiosity into a sale. For indie releases, a cheap limited bundle or an early-bird price does the same job.
The Toy Story campaign worked because many parties, each with their own audience, pointed at the same two letters. What partners do you already have who could point at yours?
