Grammy Showdown: Taylor Swift Faces Fierce Competition for Best Song in Visual Media!

The 69th annual Grammy Awards are generating significant buzz, particularly in the competitive category of Best Song Written for Visual Media. With 149 songs vying for a mere five or six nomination slots, the landscape is rich with established artists and promising newcomers, anticipating the final ballot announcement on November 16.

Leading the pack appear to be Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff with their charming pop/country tune, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” co-written for Toy Story 5. A win would mark Swift’s second triumph in this category, following “Safe & Sound” from The Hunger Games in 2013. Furthermore, it would be a historic moment for the Toy Story franchise, as it would be the first time songs from two separate installments have won, building on Randy Newman’s “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2 which won in 2001.

Another strong contender is Lady Gaga, alongside Doechii, for “Runway,” co-written with Dernst “D Mile” Emile II, Jayda Love, Bruno Mars, Cirkut, and Andrew Watt for The Devil Wears Prada 2. Gaga is already a two-time winner in this category for co-writing “Shallow” (2019) and “I’ll Never Love Again” (2020), both from A Star Is Born. The same film also sees another potential nominee in “Material Lover,” co-written by Sienna Spiro, Omer Fedi, and Michael Pollack, with Spiro also a strong candidate for Best New Artist.

Ludwig Göransson, who recently had two nominated songs from Sinners at the previous Grammy ceremony, is back in the running with “When I’m Home” from The Odyssey. This track, co-written with James Blake, Travis Scott, and film director Christopher Nolan, is from the second-highest-grossing film of 2026. Lin-Manuel Miranda, a two-time winner himself, is entered with “Along the Way” from Moana, co-written with Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina, adding to his prior solo wins for “How Far I’ll Go” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”

Veteran songwriter Diane Warren, holding a record 11 nominations in this category, is entered with “By Any Means” from the film of the same name, performed by The Isley Brothers and David Kushner. Warren’s sole win to date in this category was for “Because You Loved Me.”

The entry list also features several songs with Oscar connections, including two Best Original Song nominees from earlier this year: “Train Dreams” by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner, and “Sweet Dreams of Joy” by Nicholas Pike. Additionally, five Oscar-shortlisted songs are present, notably “The Girl in the Bubble” and “No Place Like Home” from Wicked: For Good, both penned by Stephen Schwartz and performed by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, respectively. Other shortlisted entries include Miley Cyrus’s “Dream as One” from Avatar: Fire and Ash, Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile’s “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” from Come See Me in the Good Light, and Billy Idol’s “Dying to Live” from Billy Idol Should Be Dead.

Songs from top-grossing films are also making their presence felt, such as Shakira’s “Zoo” from Zootopia 2, Charli xcx and John Cale’s “House” from Wuthering Heights, and Jelly Roll’s “I’m Good” from GOAT. Furthermore, projects associated with prominent music personalities like Linda Perry, Sarah McLachlan, Kylie Minogue, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Gregg Allman have entries like “What Lies With You,” “One in a Long Line,” “Light Up,” “I’m Never Gonna R.I.P.,” and “My Cross To Bear.”

Beyond film, the category encompasses songs written for TV and other visual media. Andrew Bird’s “Need Someone” from The Pitt, a recent Primetime Emmy winner, is on the list, as are other Emmy-nominated songs: Trey Parker’s “Christian Woman” from South Park, Daveed Diggs’s “Raise Him Up” from The Boys, Carlos Rafael Rivera & David Stal’s “Mis Figuritas” from Hacks, and Warren Felder’s “The Devil You Know” from Spider-Noir. Songs from popular TV series, such as Peter Jones’s “It’s You” from Heated Rivalry and Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg’s “Gravity” from Hazbin Hotel Season 2, round out the diverse selection.

If the category follows the trend of having six nominees, as it has in three of the last five years, the predicted front-runners, in alphabetical order, are: “Along the Way” from Moana (Opetaia Foa’i, Mark Mancina & Lin-Manuel Miranda), “Dream as One” from Avatar: Fire and Ash (Miley Cyrus, Simon Franglen, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt), “I Knew It, I Knew You” from Toy Story 5 (Jack Antonoff & Taylor Swift), “Runway” from The Devil Wears Prada 2 (Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, Doechii, Jayda Love, Bruno Mars, Cirkut, Andrew Watt & Lady Gaga), “Train Dreams” from Train Dreams (Nick Cave & Bryce Dessner), and “When I’m Home” from The Odyssey (James Blake, Ludwig Göransson, Christopher Nolan & Travis Scott).