‘Toy Story 5,’ Taylor Swift and the secret: Team had to create a ‘decoy version’ to keep the project under wraps

The next ‘Toy Story’ installment has already created quite a buzz on its own, with a lot of fan favourite cast members returning along with new ones joining. Now, according to the latest reports, with Taylor Swift joining the project, expectations for the film have risen tenfold, along with the excitement! While it has been confirmed that the ‘Opalite’ singer has made a song for Tom Hanks’ upcoming animated film, the team is pulling all the stops to keep the song a big secret until the final date.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Toy Story 5’ song was kept under wraps for months

While in conversation with Variety at the SXSW London, a VFX artist from the animated film’s team, Thomas Jordan, revealed some shocking details about Swift’s involvement. He shared that the collaboration has been in the works for months; however, it was kept under tight wraps to maintain the excitement and was also hidden from early screenings of the animated film.

Detailing further on the matter, he added that, “She (Taylor Swift) actually saw an early version of the film, she requested to see it before it was finished, and she wrote the song and then asked us if we wanted it. And we said, ‘Uh, yes! Yes, we do.’ That was in February, so we’ve had to keep it a secret ever since then.”

The secrecy surrounding the film was taken quite seriously, Jordan revealed during the interview. He cited that the team even had to “create a decoy version”, which was released to the press and the majority of the staff members of ‘Toy Story 5.’ “The crew that made Toy Story 5 did not know about this secret until last week,” he further shared, revealing the lengths that they went to in order to ensure that nothing was leaked.

As to how the collaboration culminated in the first place, Jordan also quipped that “Turns out, Taylor Swift is a huge Toy Story fan like many of us.” Taylor Swift created the song titled ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ for ‘Toy Story 5’, which is all set for release worldwide on June 19.

About ‘Toy Story 5’

The gang is back again with Bonnie; however, this time around, they have to deal with modern technology and her Lilypad, an AI-powered kids' tablet. The official synopsis for the film reads, “Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs are challenged when they're introduced to electronics, a new threat to playtime.”

Tom Hanks is returning to voice the role of Woody, while Tim Allen will return as Buzz Lightyear, Joan Cusack will return as Jessie, and Annie Potts will play the role of Bo Peep. Greta Lee, from projects like ‘Past Lives’, ‘The Morning Show’, and ‘Tron: Ares’, has joined the ensemble as the main villain of ‘Toy Story 5’, Lilypad.