Taylor Swift was reportedly a major inspiration on the set of It Ends With Us.

Justin Baldoni directed the 2024 adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, starring Blake Lively as protagonist Lily Bloom opposite himself as Ryle Kincaid. The film chronicled the characters’ abusive relationship.

Months after the movie came out in August 2024, Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and trying to destroy her reputation. He denied the claims before filing a defamation lawsuit against the actress, name-dropping Swift. In his court petition obtained by Us Weekly, Baldoni included a text message screenshot where a Sony executive allegedly revealed that Lively personally called Swift to “approve” the use of her song “My Tears Ricochet” in the trailer. (The two women have been friends since 2015 and the pop star is also godmother to Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds’ children.)

Insiders, however, say that Swift had no “creative involvement” in the film’s production.

“Taylor has always been Blake’s friend, but Taylor doesn’t have any involvement in the case. She wasn’t part of the movie,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2025. “Taylor was not a producer on the film and had no creative involvement.”

A second insider, meanwhile, told Us that Swift never saw the film — or “a single scene” — until the movie hit theaters.

Keep scrolling to read what the It Ends With Us cast said and claimed about Swift’s influence:

Justin Baldoni Says He ‘Had Nothing to Do’ With Using Her Song in Trailer

Swift’s 2020 song “My Tears Ricochet” is prominently featured in the trailer for It Ends With Us.

“That’s all Blake,” Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight in May 2024. “I have no idea [how she did it] but Blake knows everybody. Her and Taylor are very good friends. I’m so happy that they agreed to have a song in the trailer, it’s so perfect for the movie.

Blake Lively Explains Using ‘My Tears Ricochet’ in Trailer

In June 2024, Lively revealed how she selected the Folklore song in the trailer.

“Them together made a lot of sense,” she said at Hoover’s Book Bonanza festival. “Colleen is able to tell something that’s deeply personal and intimate but is able to resonate with so many people. And Taylor, she’s such an incredible writer. She writes from such personal experiences and vulnerability.”

Lively later told CBS Mornings that she “went back and forth” with Sony to add the 2020 song in the trailer.

“It’s a big, beautiful summer movie, but it’s actually a pretty intimate movie,” Lively said, claiming it was a small-budget project. “We never thought, like, our eyeballs were not that big to think that we could put one of her songs in the movie. It had to be and there was a moment in the movie that was missing this emotional gravitas and, as soon as we put the song in, I was like, ‘That’s the spot’ because it’s the moment in [Lily’s] life where something happens and … that changes the course of her life.”

According to Lively “nothing would have” punctuated the moment better than “My Tears Ricochet.”

Blake Lively Says Taylor Swift Was ‘With Me on This Experience The Whole Time’

During an August 2024 panel for the film, Lively said “there were a lot of favors and begging” for song usage since there wasn’t a large budget to work with in the first place. The moderator then specifically asked whether Lively persuaded Swift to agree to license the song for the trailer.

“Honestly, she was with me on this experience the whole time,” Lively said, per social media footage. “She really lived this with me, so she’s a person who shows up for you. I’m so grateful to have that love and that support.”

Blake Lively Says She Reunited With ‘I Bet You Think About Me’ Editor on the Movie

Lively, who made her directorial debut on Swift’s “I Bet You Think About Me” music video off 2021’s Red (Taylor’s Version), worked with some of the same crew on It Ends With Us.

“We had an incredible music supervisor, Season Kent, and one of our editors Shane Reid who, fun fact, was my editor on Taylor’s music video I directed,” Lively told the UK’s CapitalFM in August 2024. “And I was obsessed with him, I was like, ‘This guy is amazing!’ He’d never edited a movie before, he’d just finished Deadpool and Wolverine [with my husband] and he came on and helped us with this one. He has incredible taste in music — and we share the same composer from Deadpool and Wolverine. There’s a lot of sharing happening.”

Isabela Ferrer Claims Taylor Swift Had a Hand in Her Casting

Ferrer plays the younger version of Lively’s Lily in It Ends With Us, later telling Extra at the August 2024 premiere that Swift helped her land the role.

“She was a helpful part of the audition, which I found out later when I got it,” Ferrer said. “And that rocked my world.”

Justin Baldoni Echoes Isabela Ferrer’s Casting Story

In his own interview with Extra that month, Baldoni revealed that he “showed [Isabela’s] casting tape” to Lively and Swift.

“I was casting and I had actually brought in and showed her casting tape to Blake and Taylor and they were both like, ‘Yes, her!’” Baldoni recalled to Extra. “And that’s a true story, but she just blew me away.”