Taylor Swift started her history-making career in Nashville — and lately, she’s been dropping more than a few major hints that she hasn’t forgotten the fact that you can always find your way back home.
Swift rose to fame in the country music genre before eventually making the move to the pop scene with her 2014 record, 1989. After releasing a slew of chart-topping pop albums, the Grammy winner has made it clear that the country chapter of her storied career is far from closed.
Between a wistful speech at the Grammy Museum, a tear-jerking country song for Toy Story 5 and a cheeky “yee-haw” social media reference, Swift’s fans are convinced a twangy new era could be on the horizon.
Scroll below to see everything Swift has said about honoring her country music beginnings:
Taylor Swift Wants to ‘Honor’ Her Roots
Swift spoke at the Grammy Museum in August 2026 for a 20-year career retrospective, taking the opportunity to look back at her Nashville origins.
“I love my country roots more and more as I go further in this path,” Swift told attendees. “I want to honor them more and more, the artist who shaped who I am, and that all happened in Nashville.”
The reflective moment resonated with Swifties, many of whom took it as a signal that the 36-year-old singer’s next project could lean back into the genre that launched her career.
Taylor Swift Went Country for ‘Toy Story 5’ Song
Swift and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff wrote “I Knew It, I Knew You” for the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, which dropped in June 2026. The emotional ballad marked what the singer described as a return to her country music roots.
“The word daze is spelled ‘d-a-z-e’ in the lyrics, but you could also, if you wanted to think of it as days ‘d-a-y-s’ you could perceive it as that,” Swift said during a September 2026 interview on iHeartCountry House Party, discussing her lyrics. “But, I thought of it, like, a childhood daze you look back and you see this sort of blurry, beautiful memory that’s kind of blurry at the edges and blades of the grass in summer that harkens back to childhood and playing and using your imagination.”
She explained that the lyrics tapped into the toys’ perspective, noting, “There’s the added meaning of they’re toys, they can only see up to the height of blades of grass. ‘Parachutes for the free fall of being younger.’ There’s the actual parachute army toys in Toy Story, as well as symbolically, somebody who helps you grow up, helps your landings be softer.”
Swift penned the song after watching an early cut of the Pixar film, crafting it around cowgirl figurine Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) and her first owner, Emily.
“For Jessie, I feel like the line, ‘I watched you drive around the bend for what I thought would be the last time I saw my friend,’ that hits me really hard because that movie just broke my heart,” Swift recalled on a 20/20 special in June 2026. “So I’m really happy to, like, give her a happy moment.”
Swift is the only musician outside of composer Randy Newman to contribute an original song to the Toy Story franchise — a distinction the pop star admittedly doesn’t take lightly.
Taylor Swift Returns to the CMAs
Swift’s country re-entry picked up more steam when “I Knew It, I Knew You” scored a Single of the Year nomination at the 2026 CMAs.
“Looks like I haven’t yee’d my last haw,” Swift wrote via her Instagram Stories after nominations were announced, confirming her plans to attend the ceremony for the first time in a decade. “See you there Nov 18.”
Swift is also set to perform at the CMAs for the first time in 13 years, which is coincidentally her lucky number.
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
