In what may well be a preview of things to come this awards season, Toy Story 5, the latest installment in Disney/Pixar’s beloved 31-year-old animated film franchise,was the toast of Hollywood on Tuesday night at the Dolby Theatre, the home of the Oscars.
A-listers ranging from the Duffer brothers to Teyana Taylor to Jimmy Kimmel (and their kids) convened for the world premiere of what proved to be a smart, funny and moving film about screens displacing toys in the lives of young children. And attendees of all ages were ecstatic when the film was followed by a surprise live performance, by Taylor Swift, the biggest pop star on the planet, of its end-credits original song “I Knew It, I Knew You” (which Swift co-wrote with Jack Antonoff), and then a Swift and Randy Newman duet of Newman’s classic tune from the first Toy Story, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
At the premiere’s after-party outside of the Dolby on a closed-down, festively-decorated Hollywood Blvd., industry insiders —including Academy members — gushed to me about both the film and the song, and remarked upon the clear commitment by all involved to give the film a big push, both into theatrical release nationwide on June 19 and into the awards season. “They really pulled out all the stops for this,” remarked one.
Indeed, come awards season, Toy Story 5 will be hard to stop in all races for best animated feature and best original song, and could also factor into best picture and best adapted screenplay competitions. Aside from being immensely entertaining, the film also has something profound to say about the world today. And it is extremely well made, which is unsurprising given that it is a production of Pixar and was co-written and directed by Andrew Stanton, who was also a writer on the four prior Toy Story films and directed 2003’s Finding Nemo and 2008’s WALL-E, both of which were awarded the best animated feature Oscar.
As for Swift and her frequent collaborator Antonoff’s original tune? It’s a wistful, country-infused love song that evokes Swift classics like “Our Song” and “betty,” and in my humble opinion it would fit right in and hold its own on a Swift concert setlist. Just as importantly, in terms of its awards prospects, Swift — who is 36 and grew up with the Toy Story films — seems genuinely excited about, invested in, and willing to support this film and song.
Indeed, she walked the red carpet; posed for photos with the film’s cast and crew, as well as Disney and Pixar execs; sat through much of the film before heading backstage; and then, when the curtain came up on her, didn’t just sing, but gushed. “It means the world to me to be a small part of the universe of these films,” she declared following her performance of “I Knew It, I Knew You.” “And Toy Story 5 is my favorite of all of the Toy Storys. I’m so lucky that I get to be a part of this. And I want to thank all of the creators at Disney and Pixar for all the work they put into this film. It’s insanely beautiful, it’s a masterpiece, we’re so lucky to get to have this film out, your work is amazing, and I hope you’re all so proud of yourselves —if you’re in this room and you worked on this film, thank you so much!”
She continued, “I would like to say that Joan Cusack has done such an extraordinary job as Jessie [the two-time Oscar nominee voiced the film’s central character]… I’m very lucky that I got to write for this film, and that’s all thanks to Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris… who thought of me and reached out to me and let me to get to experience it and be inspired by it. But I’m also lucky enough to be here because of someone else who is the architect of the Toy Story musical universe. He is the king of making us feel the absolute most and pulling at our heartstrings and making us laugh and making us feel like he’s one of our friends. I’m talking about Randy Newman.”
Another curtain then came up to reveal Newman seated at a piano, to which Swift walked over. She said, “Hey, Randy!” He replied, “Hey! That’s very kind of you, thanks for the kind words,” before cracking, “I deserve them!” After the audience’s laughter subsided, he quickly added, “No, I don’t deserve them. You do a hell of a song.” She replied, “Oh, thank you so much!” He emphasized, “It was really nice.” And she blushed, “This feels like a really good day, just personally!” They then traded verses of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
No animated film franchise has enjoyed greater success at the Academy Awards than the Toy Story film franchise. 1995’s original Toy Story, which preceded by six years the introduction of the best animated feature Oscar category, was Oscar-nominated for best original screenplay, best original score and best original song (“You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” music and lyrics by Newman). A special achievement award was also presented to Pixar’s chief at the time: “To John Lasseter, for his inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film.”
1999’s Toy Story 2 was nominated for just the best original song Oscar (“When She Loved Me,” music and lyrics by Newman). But 2010’s Toy Story 3 soared to Oscar noms for best picture —it was just the third animated film to be named a finalist in the overall top category, after 1991’s Beauty and the Beast and 2009’s Up —as well as best adapted screenplay, best animated feature, best original song (“We Belong Together,” music and lyrics by Newman) and best sound editing. It won best animated feature and best original song.
2019’s Toy Story 4, meanwhile, was nominated for best animated feature and best original song (“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” music and lyrics by Newman), and won best animated feature.
In short, all four prior Toy Story films have been nominated for the best original song Oscar, and both Toy Story films that were released after the establishment of the best animated feature Oscar were nominated for and won that award.
Given the quality of Toy Story 5 and the relatively thin field of animated features this year (others to look out for include Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers and Netflix’s Cannes acquisition In Waves), it seems almost certain that this latest installment will also be nominated for —and quite possibly win —best animated feature.
And although “I Knew It, I Knew You” is the first original song Oscar contender for a Toy Story film that was not written by Newman, Swift certainly looks well-positioned to land the first Oscar nomination of her illustrious career (on the heels of two buzzed-about tunes from lower-profile films that didn’t quite pan out, “Only the Young” from 2020’s Miss Americana and “Carolina” from 2022’s Where the Crawdads Sing).
Keep in mind just how highly regarded she is by her peers (she has received 58 Grammy nominations and won 14 Grammys, including album of the year four times, something no other artist has ever done) and by critics (the New York Times just included her —and, oddly enough, not Newman —on its list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters).
And keep in mind the Academy’s recent history of recognizing popular young singer/songwriters, including Adele (Oscar for 2012’s “Skyfall”), Pharrell (Oscar nom for 2013’s “Happy”), Common and John Legend (Oscar for 2014’s “Glory”), Sam Smith (Oscar for 2015’s “Writing’s on the Wall”), Justin Timberlake (Oscar nom for 2016’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”), Lady Gaga (Oscar for 2018’s “Shallow”), SZA (Oscar nom for 2018’s “All the Stars”), H.E.R. (Oscar for 2021’s “Fight for You”) and Billie Eilish (Oscars for 2021’s “No Time to Die” and 2023’s “What Was I Made For”). A tune like “I Knew It, I Knew You” featured in a film like Toy Story 5 would certainly not look out of place in this company.