Say the name Randy Newman, and if people think anything at all, it's likely to be You've Got A Friend In Me. Yet the cheerful theme to the blockbusting Toy Story movies is an aberration in the six-decade career of its composer and performer, and not just because the other pop standards he'll play at Australian shows in 2020 – I Think It's Gonna Rain Today, Mama Told Me Not To Come, You Can Leave Your Hat On, Feels Like Home – were hits for others.

"If I'd done Friend In Me out of the context of writing a movie score, I'd have sounded like a used car salesman," Newman admits to AFR Weekend from his home in Los Angeles, the 75-year-old's hipster drawl still hinting at his childhood in New Orleans.