“This is in Honor of Her”: Taylor Swift Scores Country Radio No. 1 with ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’, Inspired by Jessie from Toy Story 5

Taylor Swift has reached number 1 on Country radio for the first time in 13 years with ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’.

Swift, who famously launched her career in music when she was 16, spent the first eight years of her career as a Nashville based singer songwriter, earning multiple number ones with hits like ‘Should’ve Said No’ and ‘Our Song’.

When her 2014 album, 1989, marked her departure from country music, fans wondered if she’d ever return to her roots. Now, 13 years since her first chart-topper, Swift has hit number one on Country radio once again.

On her recent radio appearances, Swift said that she felt lucky to continue the legacy of Randy Newman’s music in Toy Story with her song, ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’.

“I thought, we’re going to take these beautiful tapestries of musical art he’s created brushstroke by brushstroke and we’re going to try to create something that would go in that collection,” she said of creating a song that honors the musician, rather than reinventing his style.

The song honors Jessie the cowgirl, Toy Story 5’s protagonist, who explores themes of abandonment and reuniting with old friends. Swift shared that she wanted to create something that would showcase Jessie’s story.

“The harmonica came in because I really thought that we needed to, in this ode to Jessie, pay homage to where she comes from,” Swift shared. “She’s this cowgirl doll and she comes from this western landscape and I thought it would be really cool to kind of signify that this is actually Jessie’s song. This is from her perspective. This is in honor of her.”

The 14-time Grammy Award winner is known for her evocative songwriting, with careful wordplay marking a large part of her modus operandi. This song was no different.

“I love that the lyrics of this song are really being delved into by the fans. There are several lyrics that have more than one meaning to them,” she shared, “You only have so long in a song to convey and surmise and sum up this entire film…Sometimes you’ll try to have a double meaning in a line.”

And that’s the beauty of country music, right? The way one artist’s story can be interpreted in as many ways as the listener wants or needs to.

In an interview on The View earlier this year, Joan Cusack, voice of Jessie, said that ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ was “perfect” and was amazed at Swift’s ability to create the song in just 4 hours after seeing an early screening of the film.

Taylor Swift’s Country radio number one marks a special moment for Toy Story 5, for Jessie’s story and for Swifties, but does it mark a return to the genre? We will have to wait and see.