Tom Cruise and Taylor Swift small-talk, work and the weather and football.
The Digger actor shared what he and the "I Knew It, I Knew You" singer chatted about while sitting next to one another at her husband Travis Kelce's season opener when the Kansas City Chiefs went up against the Denver Broncos Sept. 14.
As Cruise told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Sept. 17, "She was schooling me on football."
After Fallon asked, "For real?" the Top Gun star confirmed, "For real. She was bringing the football."
"First of all, she’s a genius," Cruise continued. "I’ve been following her since she was a kid. Everybody there, all their friends, they’re a beautiful couple and magical in their own right. Everybody there in that booth."
The 64-year-old explained that the outing was extra special because it had been so long since he'd been able to attend an NFL game.
"I hadn’t been to a football game since pre-Covid, where I was working and everything," he said. "So to get to hang out there and have that moment, it was a lot of fun. She knows her stuff."
Making Swift's knowledge about football even more impressive to Cruise was the fact that she knew so little about the game before she started dating Travis.
"She knew nothing about football when she met Travis," he explained. "She said, ‘You know, he’s so patient.' I said, ‘I’m sure he was.’ I think everybody would be very patient."
Cruise went on to maintain that now the Grammy winner "knows" and is "just bringing it" in all aspects of her life and career.
“We talked about music and movies," he finished. "She's funny. She’s got such a great sense of humor. A brilliant writer also, by the way. Brilliant musician and director. Very skilled."
Cruise's account aligns with what Pat McAfee had recounted of his experience of being in the same suite at the game.
"Got a chance to chitchat with Miss Taylor Swift last night,” he revealed during the Sept. 15 episode of his ESPN series, The Pat McAfee Show. “I go, ‘Miss Taylor,’ and she goes, ‘Pat!’ I go, ‘How are you?’"
The TV personality went on to share how locked into the game Swift and the rest of the people in their box were.
“That was the most ‘into it’ suite we’ve ever been in,” he shared. “Everybody in there was all in. He had that 57-yard catch, we were in there for that. That was what being a football fan was like.”
“She’s all in,” McAfee added. “I know she had an Eagles jersey on when she was young, she sang the National Anthem but she’s been so busy with her career I wasn’t sure how much she was into football and how much everybody else that was in there. Obviously, you’ve got the Kelce portion in there—they’re all football people. Watching them experience a game was fantastic.”
Keep reading for a closer look at Swift and Kelce's romance...
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's love story began in July 2023, when the singer's Eras Tour made a stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
As a huge Swiftie, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end caught the show with hopes of giving Taylor a friendship bracelet with his number on it. However, he failed to complete the pass due to her pre-show rituals.
"I was disappointed that she doesn't talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings," Travis shared on the July 26 episode of his New Heights podcast. "So, I was a little butt-hurt I didn't get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her."
After publicly recounting his fumble—a move Taylor would later describe as "metal as hell"—Travis decided to shoot his shot and invite the Grammy winner to watch the Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium.
"I threw it out there, I threw the ball in her court," he shared on The Pat McAfee Show. "I told her, you know, 'I've seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one's a little more lit.' So, we'll see what happens in the near future."
Travis was rocking a mustache—which he debuted in August during training camp—when he was first introduced to Taylor.
As he later noted of the era, "That 'stache and the 87 jersey was pretty iconic there for a little bit, and I had it when I met Taylor for the first time."
By early September, a source close to the situation told E! News that Travis and Taylor were "texting and talking here and there."
"It's been very low-key," the insider explained, "as he's been in season."
Accepting Travis' invite, Taylor joined the athlete's mom Donna Kelce at Arrowhead Stadium to watch him and the Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears. After the game, Taylor and Travis were seen packing PDA at a local bar.
Though folklore had it that it was the couple's first in-person meeting, the "Karma" singer later clarified the two had spent a "significant amount of time" getting to know each other beforehand.
As Taylor noted, "We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."
As an indication that the relationship was heating up, Taylor brought her squad—including friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sophie Turner, Hugh Jackman, Sabrina Carpenter and Antoni Porowski—to watch the Chiefs play against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Another sign that Travis could be The 1? Taylor started bonding with Brittany Mahomes—the wife of Travis' BFF and teammate Patrick Mahomes—in and outside of NFL games.
The couple took their romance to TV, making a surprise appearance on the Oct. 14 episode of Saturday Night Live. Their Big Apple takeover also included the after-party for the NBC sketch show and a date night at the Waverly Inn.
During a bye week, Travis traveled down to Argentina to catch the South American leg of Taylor's Eras Tour. Not only did the NFL star bond with Taylor's dad, Scott Swift, at the Nov. 11 show in Buenos Aires, but he also got a special shoutout from the stage.
"Karma is that guy on the Chiefs," Taylor sang, "coming straight home to me."
After the show, the Midnights artist was seen running up to Travis backstage and greeting him with a passionate kiss.
Taylor addressed the lavender craze surrounding her appearances at Travis' games.
"I'm going to see him do what he loves, we're showing up for each other, other people are there and we don't care," she told Time. "The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you're seeing someone."
The music superstar turned Travis' Dec. 17 game into a family affair, bringing her dad to cheer on her man.
Taylor and Travis spent their first New Year's Eve together, sharing a romantic kiss when the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1.
Continuing to bond with Travis' family, Taylor hung out with his brother Jason Kelce and sister-in-law Kylie Kelce at the Chiefs' game against the Buffalo Bills.
Taylor joined Travis on the football field when the Chiefs won the AFC Championship, a victory that cemented the team's spot in the 2024 Super Bowl. The couple shared a celebratory kiss before exchanging the L-word.
"Tay, I'm gonna enjoy with the guys," he told her. "I love you—so much it's not funny."
The pair locked lips on the field after Travis led the Kansas City Chiefs to victory on Feb. 11, 2024 in Las Vegas.
Taylor posted footage of Travis on social media for the first time Feb. 12, poking fun at how she took her parents clubbing with the athlete after the Super Bowl.
Taylor's first Instagram pic featuring Travis was a selfie of the two with Prince William and his and wife Kate Middleton's eldest kids Prince George and Princess Charlotte backstage at the singer's Eras tour show at Wembley Stadium in London.
While attending his seventh Eras tour concert, and second show at London's Wembley Stadium, the NFL star joined his girlfriend onstage as a backup performer during her performance of "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart."
Taylor joined Travis for the Chief's first game of the regular 2024-25 season and appeared to re-enact a PDA moment from October 2023 in this photo shared by Chariah Gordon, who is pictured with her boyfriend, Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman.
The two attended model Karen Elson's wedding to Electric Lady Studios owner Lee Foster in New York City.
The next day, the pair attended the men's singles final match at the U.S. Open.
The two stepped out for a double dinner date with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in NYC.
The pair stepped out for two back-to-back dates in New York City over the last weekend of 2024, matching outfits both times.
The pair spent the NFL off-season together, enjoying a snowy vacation to Montana with sportscaster Erin Andrews.
Travis posted his first pics with Taylor on Instagram in July 2025, including an adorable shot of them at dinner—which subtly revealed their phone lockscreen pics of one another.
Self-described New Heights superfan Taylor made her debut on Travis and Jason's podcast in a nearly two-hour-long special episode Aug. 13. In addition to very candidly detailing their life together—in and out of the spotlight—Taylor also revealed her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, set to debut Oct. 3.
More than two years after Travis' podcast shoutout heard 'round the world, Travis and Taylor announced they are engaged. Making a cheeky reference to her song "So High School." the two captioned the Aug. 26 Instagram post featuring their engagement photos, "Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married."
While Taylor would've married Travis with paper rings, the athlete popped the question with an old mine brilliant cut diamond sparkler he co-designed with Artifex Fine Jewelry's Kindred Lubeck.
Taylor released The Life of a Showgirl, her 12th studio album that she recorded during the Eras Tour. Songs about her romance with Travis include "The Fate of Ophelia"—which included many Easter eggs about the NFL star—and "Wood," in which she cheekily sang that his "love was the key that opened my thighs.”
"New Heights of manhood," Taylor continued on the track, referencing the name of Travis' podcast. "I ain't gotta knock on wood."
Taylor and Travis made their first award show appearance as a couple at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards, where she won seven trophies including Pop Album of the Year for The Life of a Showgirl.
"The Life of a Showgirl was really inspired by the energy that I felt like looking into crowds and seeing you guys every single night," she told fans in the audience. "This album probably also feels very happy and confident and free because that's the way that I get to feel every single day of my life because of my fiancé, who's here tonight."
Taylor added as a nod to her "The Fate of Ophelia" lyrics, "So, thanks for all the vibes."
Ahead of their highly anticipated wedding, the couple enjoyed a PDA-filled date night at a New York Knicks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game in Travis' hometown.