page_title: When She Loved Me
section_title: Reception and recognition
hierarchical_section_title: When She Loved Me / Reception and recognition
caption_attribution_description: Randy Newman at the New Orleans Jazz &amp; Heritage Festival
context_page_description: "When She Loved Me" is a song written by Randy Newman for Pixar's animated film Toy Story 2, recorded by Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan. The song reveals the backstory of Jessie, a toy cowgirl, as she reflects upon her defunct relationship with her original owner, by whom she was outgrown. Heard in the film during a flashback sequence, the filmmakers decided to incorporate a song into the montage during which Jessie details her backstory to Woody after multiple attempts to show the character relaying her experience verbally proved unsuccessful.
  Newman initially felt that the song was not suitable because he doubted young children would be interested in it. The song was offered to McLachlan after Newman and the filmmakers agreed that the ballad was more appropriate for a female artist. Despite some hesitation from her management, McLachlan greatly enjoyed the ballad and agreed to record it upon hearing Newman's demo, finding herself drawn towards its melancholy nature. Musically, "When She Loved Me" is an emotional pop ballad backed by simple piano accompaniment.
context_section_description: "When She Loved Me" has garnered critical acclaim. The Los Angeles Times film critic Michael Mallory wrote that "only the stoniest of viewers will remain unaffected by [this] show-stopping moment". Mallory concluded, "there are Oscar winners out there who would be hard-challenged to match the performance in that scene". Agreeing that the song is a "showstopping moment", The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw deemed the ballad "a tear-jerker to be classed with the imprisonment of Dumbo's mom" in Disney's Dumbo (1941). Mark Caro, writing for the Chicago Tribune, warned audiences that they "may embarrass [themselves] choking back tears over the plight of a computer-animated piece of plastic" upon hearing "When She Loved Me". Barbara Vancheri of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the song irresistible, while film critic Roger Ebert described the track as "winsome". A critic for The Guardian described the film's use of "When She Loved Me" as "a fabulous moment". Glen Chapman of Den of Geek described "When She Loved Me" as "rather beautiful". A writer for the Nashville Scene deemed the scene the film's "most affecting moment". While Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times crowned it "one of Randy Newman's finest love songs", ASCAP considers "When She Loved Me" to be among Newman's most "outstanding" film contributions. P. Nelson Reinsch of PopMatters wrote that the scene "starts out saccharine but becomes truly beautiful in its kitschy truth regarding the inexorable passage of childhood." In a retrospective analysis of Newman's music, Paste's Tim Grierson believes that, despite sounding "seeming[ly] mawkish", the elements of "piercing emotion" that the musician continues to incorporate into his film scores has prevented "When She Loved Me" from "drift[ing] into pure sap." Jim Lane of News Review called the singer's performance "sublime", in addition to deeming the track "the most heartbreaking song ever composed for a motion picture." Reviewing the film's special edition re-release in 2006, IGN's Todd Gilchrist wrote that he struggles to identify "other moments in movie history that evoke the same kind of involuntary but completely deserved tears as" "When She Loved Me", continuing that the song's "bittersweet combination of ebullient love and palpable loneliness makes me sad just thinking about it." The critic also appreciated Disney's decision to have McLachlan record it over Newman.
  In November 1999, The Courier-Journal contributor Judith Egerton predicted that the song would be nominated for an Academy Award. In 2000, "When She Loved Me" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 72nd Academy Awards, becoming Newman's 13th nomination in the category, and his second Academy Award-nominated song from the Toy Story film series, having achieved a previous nomination for his musical contributions to the Toy Story soundtrack. The song's nomination was considered to be unusual at the time because, unlike most animated films that had garnered Best Original Song nominations before it, Toy Story 2 is not a musical. Most critics were expecting Newman to finally win his first Academy Award for "When She Loved Me". LGBT magazine The Advocate joked that the song was "the first Oscar-nominated girl-girl love song", referring to the relationship between Jessie and Emily. Ultimately, the song lost to Phil Collins' "You'll Be in My Heart" from Disney's animated film Tarzan (1999). "When She Loved Me" had been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, which it also lost to "You'll Be in My Heart". "When She Loved Me" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001. The song also won the Golden Satellite Award for Best Original Song at the 4th Golden Satellite Awards in 2000. GamesRadar+ ranked "When She Loved Me" the sixth greatest Pixar moment.
  Actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, who respectively voice Woody and Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story films, were moved to tears upon watching "When She Loved Me" for th
caption: Musician Randy Newman earned his 13th Academy Award nomination for writing "When She Loved Me".
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