Taylor Swift Performs Duet With Randy Newman at Toy Story 5 Premiere

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Taylor Swift Performs Surprise Duet With Randy Newman at Toy Story 5 Premiere

As the years go by, word of this duet will never die.  

Taylor Swift attended the Toy Story 5 world premiere—having written the song “I Knew it, I Knew You” for the forthcoming film—on June 9 in Los Angeles where she and composer Randy Newman surprised audience members with a duet of his beloved song, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”

The duet, which saw Newman on the keys of a grand piano and Swift singing alongside him, occurred 30 years after Newman, 82, penned the song for the original Toy Story released in 1995. 

This time, Newman even added a little flare to his hit song. When Swift sang, “Some other folks might be a little smarter than I am,” he added into the mic, “No one is smarter than you,” earning a laugh from the audience and the Midnights artist herself. 

And that wasn’t the only time Swift—who wore a sparkling yellow gown for the occasion, her hair fashioned into a braid à la cowgirl Jessie—sang during the premiere: She also treated attendees to the first live performance of her new track, singing “I Knew It, I Knew You” accompanied by the piano. 

But before she performed, the Grammy winner also took a moment to celebrate everyone who worked on Toy Story 5, reserving an extra-special comment for the woman behind Jessie.

“I would like to say that Joan Cusack has done such an extraordinary job as Jessie,” she said into the microphone. “It was an honor to write for her. And I'm very lucky that I got to write for this film, and that's all thanks to Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris who wrote and directed this film and thought of me and reached out to me and let me get to experience it and be inspired by it.”

But above all, the 36-year-old wanted to thank Newman, who has provided the score for each of the Toy Story films. 

“I'm also lucky enough to be here because of someone else who is the architect of the Toy Story musical universe,” Swift continued. “He is the king of making us feel the absolute most and pulling at our heartstrings and making us laugh. He's one of our friends, you know what I mean? I'm talking about Randy Newman.”

And indeed, when Swift—whose appearance at the premiere occurred amid speculation that her nuptials to Travis Kelce could occur any day now—released “I Knew It, I Knew You” on June 5, the Life of a Showgirl artist acknowledged she was following in Newman’s beloved footsteps.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for for TAS Rights Management & VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

“Thank you to the incomparable @randynewmanofficial for the gorgeous sonic tapestry of songs and scores you’ve meticulously woven over the years,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “You created the Toy Story musical world, and we are lucky to get to live in it.”

The Toy Story 5 premiere saw the film’s original stars such as Joan, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen join forces with the stars who have more recently become part of the franchise, including Greta Lee and Shelby Rabara. For more from the premiere, read on. 

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for for TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Tom Hanks

Amy Sussman/WireImage

Tim Allen

VALERIE MACON / AFP via Getty Images

Joan Cusack

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Disney

Greta Lee

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney

Tony Hale

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Kristen Schaal

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Wallace Shawn

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney

John Ratzenberger

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Scarlett Spears

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney

Melissa Villaseñor

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney

Conan O'Brien & Liza Powel O'Brien

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Disney

Krys Marshall

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Lil Rel Howery

Amy Sussman/WireImage

Jordan Chiles

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Craig Robinson

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Disney

Matty Matheson

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Disney

Jeff Bergman

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