Toy Story 5 is about to put another franchise song in the Oscar conversation, and that matters because Disney Pixar’s credits track could push Toy Story into a very small club of film series with multiple best original song winners. If Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” gets nominated and wins, Toy Story would join only a handful of franchises with that kind of awards track record.
The Toy Story franchise is already in the hunt
As Toy Story 5 goes into general release on Friday, June 19, awards-minded pop fans will start gauging the chances that “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the song that plays over the film’s closing credits, will receive an Oscar nomination next January. The source says those chances are “very good.” Swift and Antonoff co-wrote the song.
Randy Newman was nominated for best original song for each of the first four Toy Story films: “You’ve Got a Friend In Me” from Toy Story, “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2, “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 and “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from Toy Story 4. “We Belong Together” went on to win the Oscar in 2011.
Only a few franchises have done this before
Toy Story would become the second song from a Toy Story film to win the Oscar if “I Knew It, I Knew You” takes the prize on March 14. The article says the franchise would then join three other film franchises or related-film series that have spawned multiple best original song Oscar winners.
The first is the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers musicals, which produced winners in 1935 with “The Continental” from The Gay Divorcee and in 1937 with “The Way You Look Tonight” from Swing Time. The article notes that seven of the 10 Astaire/Rogers films spawned an Oscar-nominated song.
The second is the A Star Is Born remakes, which produced winners in 1977 with “Evergreen (Love Theme From A Star Is Born)” by Barbra Streisand and in 2019 with “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Judy Garland’s “The Man That Got Away” from the first musical version of A Star Is Born was nominated in 1955 but did not win.
Bond films finally broke through
The third series is the James Bond films. The source says “Skyfall” from Skyfall, performed by Adele, won in 2013, followed by “The Writing’s on the Wall” from Spectre by Sam Smith in 2016 and “No Time To Die” by Billie Eilish in 2022.
Before “Skyfall,” three official James Bond film songs were nominated but did not win: “Live and Let Die,” “Nobody Does It Better” from The Spy Who Loved Me, and “For Your Eyes Only.”
What to watch next: the Oscar shortlists in 10 categories will be revealed on Tuesday, Dec. 15, with the best original song shortlist reduced to 15 songs before the five nominees are announced on Jan. 21. The winners will be announced at the 99th Oscars on March 14.
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