Taylor Swift and Abigail Anderson's 'Napoleon Dynamite' Habit Travis Kelce Must 'Put Up With'

Taylor Swift says she and longtime friend Abigail Anderson Berard still speak in Napoleon Dynamite voices, a school-day habit their husbands must 'put up with'.

She shared the joke at a Toy Story 5 screening in New York on Sunday, 1 November 2026. Director Andrew Stanton joined her for a question-and-answer session.

The joke dates back to their school days in Tennessee. It has survived into adulthood, including Swift's July marriage to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Her remarks were lighthearted, not a claim that either husband had complained.

How Taylor Swift's 'Napoleon Dynamite' Joke Began at School

Swift recalled moving to the Nashville area at 14 and wondering how to make friends. She met Anderson at Hendersonville High School, where their shared sense of humour became the basis of an enduring friendship.

Speaking about the film's characters Bonnie and Blaze, Swift recalled meeting someone 'who's the same genre as weird and silly as you are'. Anderson, she remembered, had curly hair like Blaze, but that was not their only common ground.

The two teenagers enjoyed copying the voice of the title character in Napoleon Dynamite, the 2004 comedy starring Jon Heder. Swift told the audience that she and Anderson have continued the impressions ever since.

'And we still do this,' she said, adding that 'it's something our husbands have to put up with'. The audience laughed, and Swift demonstrated the voice herself, according to reporting based on a fan-shared video.

There was no suggestion that Kelce disliked the joke or that it had become a source of friction. Swift was explaining why the friendship between Bonnie and Blaze had struck such a personal chord.

She described the experience of finding someone who 'completely sees you for the strange, little genre that is you at your purest'. For an artist whose teenage years have often appeared in her music, the memory was unusually specific. It began with two schoolgirls talking like a character from a cult comedy.

Taylor Swift's 'Toy Story 5' Song and Her Long Friendship With Abigail Anderson

Swift had another reason to attend the screening. She wrote and produced 'I Knew It, I Knew You' with Jack Antonoff for Toy Story 5, according to Disney's official announcement.

The single was released on 5 June, before the film opened on 19 June. Disney said the song took inspiration from Jessie, the cowgirl whose story has developed across the Toy Story series.

Stanton directed the film, with Kenna Harris as co-director. Its central conflict concerns Bonnie's growing attachment to Lilypad, a tablet whose arrival unsettles the toys. Bonnie's friendship with Blaze provides a more personal thread, and the one Swift recognised from her own childhood.

In a June interview with Good Morning America, Swift said she had received composer Randy Newman's blessing to contribute a song. She praised the finished film, rather than making her songwriting role the focus of Sunday's recollection.

'I was absolutely dazzled by it. It is my favourite Toy Story movie,' she said. Her enthusiasm gave the anecdote at the November screening added context. Swift was discussing the part of the film that had stayed with her after the music was finished.

Anderson has appeared throughout Swift's career. She is named in the 2008 song 'Fifteen' and again in 2025's 'Ruin the Friendship'. She has also appeared in music videos and the documentary Miss Americana, and supported Swift during the Eras Tour in Nashville.

Their lives have changed considerably since Hendersonville High School. Anderson married Charles Berard in September 2022, and the couple welcomed their son, Bennett, in August 2024.

Anderson attended Swift and Kelce's wedding at Madison Square Garden in New York on 3 July 2026. Swift's representative confirmed the marriage to ABC News, which reported that actor and comedian Adam Sandler officiated the ceremony.