Songfacts®:

• "Tom and Jerry" finds John Mayer contemplating an on-again, off-again romance where two people have strong feelings for each other but simply can't make it work. The famous cartoon's cat-and-mouse chase provides a metaphor for lovers who keep circling one another without moving forward. Mayer leaves it unclear whether he identifies with Tom or Jerry, which fits a relationship where neither person seems to know what's going on.
• The title started as a temporary working name. Mayer explained that "Tom and Jerry" was the title he gave to the very first voice memo he saved for the song idea. That initial recording included the line, "And if you ever come through, which I doubt you'll do, I'll run away with you." From that seed, he noted, "the adventure began in bringing that feeling to life."
• Mayer hasn't said who inspired the track. The lyrics detail a push-and-pull romance with someone who might be attached to someone else. Reports linked him to Kat Stickler starting in late 2025, but the pair split in mid-2026 and nothing ties her to this song.
• Several other tracks have used the iconic cartoon pair to make a point:
  
  2001 "Bad Cover Version" by Pulp uses a later, talking version of the characters to describe a cheap imitation that misses the mark.
  
  2005 "Red Water" by Rehab puts Tom and Jerry on the television in a childhood memory.
  
  2013 "Bang Bang" by will.i.am groups them with Scooby-Doo in a playful line.
  
  2018 "Best Life" by Cardi B invokes the duo as a put-down, framing an untrustworthy guy as a cat and a rat who is all talk and no action.
  
  2024 "The Way Back" by Zach Bryan places the show on a TV set during a quiet domestic scene.
• Mayer co-wrote and co-produced "Tom and Jerry" with Blake Slatkin, whose production credits include The Kid Laroi's "Stay," Sam Smith's "Unholy" and Lizzo's "About Damn Time."
• Mayer handles acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, synths, and programming. The supporting musicians are:
  
  Pino Palladino: bass
  Aaron Sterling: drums
  Lenny Castro: percussion
  Larry Goldings: organ
  
  Welsh session musician Pino Palladino has contributed to several of John Mayer's albums and is one third of the blues-rock outfit the John Mayer Trio. He was also The Who's touring bassist after the death of John Entwistle in 2002, and played on their subsequent records.
• Mayer premiered the song on October 22, 2026, on his SiriusXM channel, Life with John Mayer, ahead of its official release the following day. It marked his first solo single since "Wild Blue" and served as the debut release for Sob Rock Records, the imprint he launched alongside Universal's Mercury Records. The label takes its name from Mayer's 2021 album Sob Rock.