Taylor Swift Hid a Bunch of Easter Eggs in the All Too Well Short Film

By now, Taylor Swift's short film All Too Well has emotionally wrecked you and you're ready for a second (or third or fourth) viewing to discover all the hidden messages the singer pieced into the 15-minute video.

Well, look no further. After we watched the emotional roller coaster starring Dylan O'Brien and Sadie Sink multiple times and scouring the internet for fan theories, here are all the Easter eggs that Glamour found in All Too Well.

Before we even get into the video itself, Swift made a very deliberate choice while casting the roles in her short film. It's been a long-held belief by fans that “All Too Well” was written about the singer's relationship with ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal. The pair dated in 2010, when Swift was just turning 21 years old and Gyllenhaal was 30. 

Though Swift has never confirmed these rumors, she cast two popular actors who share a similar age difference: The Teen Wolf star is 30, while the Stranger Things actor is just 19 years old. 

If the film's visuals don't illustrate the age difference enough, the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” off Red (Taylor's Version) includes additional lyrics like, “And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punch line goes, ‘I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age,’” as well as, “You said if we had been closer in age, maybe it would have been fine.”

Okay, so the scarf is more of an Easter egg when referenced in her other works, but it is one of the biggest symbols in the Taylor Swift Cinematic Universe. It's also another piece of evidence used against Mr. Gyllenhaal. Here's the lyric: “I left my scarf there at your sister's house. And you've still got it in your drawer even now.”

Well, Gyllenhaal's famous sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, hasn't been able to evade questions about the scarf. Back in 2017 Andy Cohen asked about it on Watch What Happens Live. “I never understood why everybody asked me about this scarf. What is this?” she said. “I am in the dark about this scarf. It's totally possible [it's at my house]. I don't know. I have been asked this before, and I am like, ‘What are you talking about?’”

Taylor Swift has already confirmed the fan theory that the car featured in All Too Well is a 1989 model. This is leading many Swifties to believe the album 1989 is the next to be rerecorded.

Another fan, however, has gone even deeper and suggested that the shot of the car is also a Gyllenhaal reference, based on a screenshot from the trailer of Love and Other Drugs. Gyllenhaal starred in that 2010 film alongside Anne Hathaway, who some believe to be the “actress” referenced in the 10-minute version of “All Too Well.”

It's giving Jake Gyllenhaal.

During the kitchen-fight scene, Sink's character calls out her boyfriend for ignoring her around his friends. “You dropped my fucking hand,” she yells at one point, which could be a reference to the “Champagne Problems” lyrics, “Because I dropped your hand while dancing / Left you out there standing / Crestfallen on the landing / Champagne problems.”

Toward the end of the video, Swift plays an older version of Sadie Sink's role and has written a book about her relationship 13 years later. One TikTok user noted that the book—which is available to purchase on Swift's merch store as a notebook—was the same one she wrote on in her autumn-themed TikTok video. 

Another fan pointed out that the book's cover feels reminiscent of The Giving Tree, which tells the story of a tree that gives everything of itself to a little boy until all that remains is a stump. 

While 1989 (Taylor's Version) could be next, fans have dug up a lot of Easter eggs in the All Too Well film that point toward Speak Now (Taylor's Version) instead. For one, the book itself could be seen as a reference to the Speak Now song “Story of Us.”

Not enough? One fan on Reddit noticed that when Sink is reeling in bed after the breakup, she's wearing a shirt O'Brien wore earlier in the video. This reminded the fan of the “Last Kiss” lyric, “But I'll go sit on the floor wearing your clothes. All that I know is I don't know how to be something you miss.”

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Outside of the film itself, Swift recently posted an Instagram about the album release, writing, “Red is about to be mine again, but it has always been ours.” Multiple fans on Twitter are sure this is an Easter egg referencing the Speak Now songs “Mine” and “Ours.”

Whether or not the next rerecording is Speak Now or 1989 (or Reputation or Taylor Swift), we can't wait.