You've Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 31 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → A Section → Interlude → A Section → B Section → C Section → B Section → C Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• E♭ – G/D – Cm – B7 – E♭/B♭ – Cdim7/B♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – D/B♭ – D♭/B♭ – D/B♭
  I – III⁶₄ – vi – #V7 – I⁶₄ – vi°7 (bass B♭) – V7 – I – VII (bass B♭) – bVII (bass B♭) – VII (bass B♭)

A Section 1

• E♭ – B♭aug – E♭7 – A♭ – Adim7 – E♭/B♭ – E♭/E♭ – B♭aug – E♭
  I – V+ – I7 – IV – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – I – V+ – I
• A♭ – E♭/G – G7 – Cm (×2)
  IV – I⁶ – III7 – vi
• A♭ – D7/A – E♭/B♭ – G/B – A♭7 – G7 – Cm – F7 – B♭7 – E♭ – C7
  IV – VII⁴₃ – I⁶₄ – III⁶ – IV7 – III7 – vi – II7 – V7 – I – VI7

Interlude

• F7 – B♭7 – E♭ – G/D – Cm – B7 – E♭/B♭ – Cdim7/B♭ – B♭7
  II7 – V7 – I – III⁶₄ – vi – #V7 – I⁶₄ – vi°7 (bass B♭) – V7

A Section 2

• E♭ – B♭aug – E♭7 – A♭ – Adim7 – E♭/B♭ – E♭/E♭ – B♭aug – E♭
  I – V+ – I7 – IV – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – I – V+ – I
• A♭ – E♭/G – G7 – Cm (×3)
  IV – I⁶ – III7 – vi
• F7 – B♭7 – E♭ – C7 – F7 – B♭7 – E♭ – E♭7
  II7 – V7 – I – VI7 – II7 – V7 – I – I7

B Section 1

• A♭
  IV
• D7 – E♭6 (×2)
  VII7 – I6
• D7 – Cadd9/E – Fm6 – D7/F♯ – Gm – C7 – Fm – B♭7
  VII7 – VIadd9 (bass E) – ii6 – VII⁶₅ – iii – VI7 – ii – V7

C Section 1

• E♭ – B♭7 – E♭9sus4 – E♭7 – A♭ – Adim – E♭/B♭ – E♭/E♭ – B♭aug – E♭ – A♭ – Adim7 – E♭/B♭ – G7/B – Cm – F7 – B♭7 – A♭ – E♭/G – G7 – Cm – F7 – B♭7 – E♭ – C7 – F7 – B♭7 – E♭ – E♭7
  I – V7 – I9sus4 – I7 – IV – #iv° – I⁶₄ – I – V+ – I – IV – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – III⁶₅ – vi – II7 – V7 – IV – I⁶ – III7 – vi – II7 – V7 – I – VI7 – II7 – V7 – I – I7

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

C Section 2

• E♭ – B♭7 – E♭9sus4 – E♭7 – A♭ – Adim – E♭/B♭ – E♭/E♭ – B♭aug – E♭ – A♭ – Adim7 – E♭/B♭ – G7/B – Cm – F7 – B♭7 – E♭ – C7
  I – V7 – I9sus4 – I7 – IV – #iv° – I⁶₄ – I – V+ – I – IV – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – III⁶₅ – vi – II7 – V7 – I – VI7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, Interlude, C Section
G/D	III⁶₄	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Intro, Interlude
Cm	vi	In the key	Intro, A Section, Interlude, C Section
B7	#V7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Interlude
E♭/B♭	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, Interlude, C Section
Cdim7/B♭	vi°7 (bass B♭)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Interlude
B♭7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Interlude, B Section, C Section
D/B♭	VII (bass B♭)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro
D♭/B♭	bVII (bass B♭)	Borrowed from E♭ minor	Intro
B♭aug	V+	Borrowed from E♭ minor	A Section, C Section
E♭7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	A Section, C Section
A♭	IV	In the key	A Section, B Section, C Section
Adim7	#iv°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, C Section
E♭/E♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, C Section
E♭/G	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, C Section
G7	III7	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	A Section, C Section
D7/A	VII⁴₃	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
G/B	III⁶	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
A♭7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
F7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	A Section, Interlude, C Section
C7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	B Section, C Section
D7	VII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
E♭6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
Cadd9/E	VIadd9 (bass E)	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	B Section
Fm6	ii6	In the key	B Section
D7/F♯	VII⁶₅	Secondary dominant (V/iii)	B Section
Gm	iii	In the key	B Section
Fm	ii	In the key	B Section
E♭9sus4	I9sus4	Borrowed from E♭ minor	C Section
Adim	#iv°	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
G7/B	III⁶₅	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	C Section

Harmonic highlights

• D♭/B♭ (bVII (bass B♭)) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• B♭aug (V+) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• E♭9sus4 (I9sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• G/D acts as V/vi: it resolves to Cm.
• E♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A♭.
• G7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Cm.
• F7 acts as V/V: it resolves to B♭7.
• C7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm.
• Cadd9/E acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm6.
• D7/F♯ acts as V/iii: it resolves to Gm.
• G7/B acts as V/vi: it resolves to Cm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “You've Got A Friend In Me (Toy Story)” (credited “Newman Randy”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “You've Got A Friend In Me (Beloff Arr.)” (credited “Randy Newman (Toy Story)”, style Easy Shuffle) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 70%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.