Toy Story 5 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score composed by Randy Newman, and conducted by him and his cousin, Joey Newman, for the 2026 Disney/Pixar animated film Toy Story 5. It features Randy's score alongside an original song, "I Knew It, I Knew You" by Taylor Swift. The soundtrack album was released through Walt Disney Records on June 19, the same day as the film.
Contents
Background
Original score
Randy Newman, who composed the previous installments in the Toy Story film series, returned to score Toy Story 5. It also marks Randy's first collaboration with the director Andrew Stanton, who had often collaborated with Randy's cousin Thomas for all of his previous animated directorial films, and also his 10th Pixar film overall. Randy considered being privileged to be connected with the Pixar franchise on this franchise, along with the Monsters, Inc. and Cars (first and third film) franchise. Randy added that he had much fun on scoring Toy Story 5 over all the predecessors.
As Toy Story 5 focuses on a clash between technology and toys, which involves higher stakes, Randy provided the cue "Making Land" as the musical motif, which he described as utilizing brass and percussion to bring a real military feel. He further incorporated a male choir, which was reminiscent of the marine choir as "part of their whole makeup". The choir served right for the escape sequence that involved machines and cranes. Randy stated that he was influenced by Lucky Jim (1957), which featured a chorus singing, "Ah, Lucky Jim, how I envy him" as the basis for the choir.
For Bonnie's theme, Randy utilized strings from the symphony orchestra to underscore her journey as she grapples with the idea of screen time and differentiating online friends and real friendship. Jessie's theme was described as an "up-tempo cowboy music". For Lilypad, Randy initially envisioned an aggressive electric sound, but in the end, Lilypad's soundscape utilized her own gadgetry noises by the sound team. Overall 25 newer cues were written for Toy Story 5.
Original song
Like the previous films, the music for Toy Story 5 revisits the themes and songs composed by Randy for the previous installments, including the song "When She Loved Me" for Toy Story 2 (1999), which was used for the nostalgia that reminds the audience of the emotional moments. The song "You've Got a Friend in Me" from the first film, which recurred in all the forthcoming installments of the franchise, is also featured in this film.
On June 1, 2026, after widespread speculation, Taylor Swift announced that she had contributed an original song for the film, titled "I Knew It, I Knew You". Swift, who attended an advance screening of the film, co-wrote and co-produced the song with Jack Antonoff and presented it to Disney CEO Bob Iger and President of Walt Disney Music Tom MacDougall, the latter served as the executive producer of the album.
Regarding Swift's involvement, Randy complimented her to be "remarkably grounded and a really nice person, like a really nice Southern girl was what she was like". Randy said that she had an half-an-hour to rehearse the song, and was not concerned about Swift not understanding the lyrics but felt that one of the keys might be too high as most of the songs were written in E-flat major, and asked her to do in another key which Swift politely refused. Randy further stated that Swift's song was not incorporated into the score or its themes, as it was a last-minute addition.
Release
"I Knew It, I Knew You" was released as the lead single from the album on June 5, 2026. The soundtrack to Toy Story 5 was released day-and-date with the film on June 19. A CD version of the album will release on September 16th, 2026 through Walt Disney Records.
Commercial performance
The song "I Knew It, I Knew You" topped the Billboard Global 200 chart, thereby becoming the first song from the Disney and Pixar film to reach the number one charts, and also Swift's seventh song to reach the number one charts.
Reception
Helen O'Hara of Empire wrote "Randy Newman's score here dips regularly back into the melody of that Sarah McLachlan tearjerker to really tug the heartstrings". David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said that "the dulcet tones of Randy Newman's score" enables the film's poignancy. Amy Nicholson of Los Angeles Times wrote "Randy Newman's score even drums up a rousing Viking chant". Tim Grierson of Screen International wrote "[Randy] Newman's wistful Toy Story 5 score incorporates elements of 'When She Loved Me's' melody to touching effect, sonically weaving Jessie's anxiety into the film's fabric."
Personnel
Credits adapted from Film Music Reporter: