" 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
4th Golden Satellite Awards
4th Golden Satellite Awards
When She Loved Me