Disney and Pixar put up new billboards on Friday with giant letters reading TS and 13 cartoon clouds, and that was enough to send Taylor Swift fans back into overdrive over whether she has anything to do with Toy Story 5. The campaign landed fast, with the imagery appearing just months after a mysterious countdown clock briefly surfaced on Swift’s website and set off the first wave of theories.
The billboards came in horizontal and vertical versions, which only sharpened the focus on the numbers and symbols that fans have been parsing for weeks. Reps for Disney and Swift had no comment Friday, but the chatter keeps pointing to the same question: is Swift tied to the Pixar sequel in some form, whether through a speaking role or a song she wrote, co-wrote or performs?
That question matters because the movie is set for release on June 19, the anniversary of Swift’s first single, Tim McGraw. Fans have been reading that date as another clue ever since the countdown clock appeared with a cloud pattern they said resembled the wallpaper in the Toy Story series. Swift has also said she has a Taylor’s Version edition of her debut album that she planned to release someday, which only added another layer to the speculation around a possible announcement.
But one comment from Pixar undercut the most popular version of the theory. Andrew Stanton said Wednesday that the song at the end of the movie is not Swift’s song, a line that closes off the idea that the new marketing points to a Swift contribution in the credits. He added, “We’d be frickin’ honored,” but also made clear that the film already had its end song mixed and finished last week. That leaves the speculation alive, but narrower than fans had hoped.
For now, the billboards have done what studio marketing is supposed to do: they have turned a release date into a scavenger hunt. The latest round of clues does not confirm Swift’s involvement in Toy Story 5, and no one on either side is saying more. What it does is keep the rumor alive right up to June 19, when Pixar will have to answer the speculation on screen instead of through clouds and initials.
