Recommendations of the Editorial team
For a film about toys and their human owners, the “Toy Story” franchise has done a remarkably good job of establishing itself as a staple of American nostalgia. Billion-dollar global grosses aside, the films have secured a warm, fuzzy place in pop culture, and with each new installment, Woody and Buzz Lightyear return to tug at our heartstrings.
In the upcoming “Toy Story 5,” which hits theaters on June 19th, cowgirl Jessie takes center stage. This week, the film got the Taylor Swift treatment: The singer treated film and music fans alike to the country-tinged, sentimental “I Knew It, I Knew You.” The track, inspired by Jessie, got a music video on Friday that features footage from the film and puts the beloved Pixar character front and center – as she and her crew face the greatest rival in the history of gaming: a tablet called Lilypad.
The carefully chosen scenes – Jessie riding a horse under a blazing sun, mischief with Woody and Bullseye, hints of a budding romance with Buzz, close encounters with a garbage truck, and glimpses of blissful possibility – are likely to bring back tearful, emotional memories for children of the ’90s and beyond.
Swift’s words on the creation
“Writing this song felt like both a musical departure and a coming home. Creating something for Jessie was both a new challenge and the most natural thing in the world,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post, which included a video of her as a little girl in a cowboy hat and boots.
Swift, who co-wrote and produced “I Knew It, I Knew You” with her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, added, “We wrote this song with so much affection for these characters who made us laugh, taught us lessons and pushed us to think outside our own backyard throughout our childhood.”
With just two weeks to go before the release of “Toy Story 5,” Swift’s song and accompanying video — available on Spotify and Apple Music — are a reminder that this story has always been about friendship, love and holding on tighter to the people closest to us.
Why does Campino think that sometimes it’s good to just keep your mouth shut? Why does he sometimes feel like a drinks delivery man? He provides the answer in our cover story about the Toten Hosen’s big farewell, exclusively in issue 06/26. And that’s not all: the magazine includes the world exclusive 7-inch single “Always just loved” – on which Sven Regener from Element of Crime also contributed. You can easily order the ROLLING STONE edition here.