Songfacts®:

• "It's Time to Go" is a bleak song where Swift depicts different situations when relationships have run their course. Many, if not all of the scenarios, are believed by Swifties to be based on actual events in the singer's personal life.
• During the first verse, Swift depicts the ending of a friendship.
  
  When the words of a sister come back in whispers
  That prove she was not in fact what she seemed
  Not a twin from your dreams
  She's a crook who was caught
  
  Fans believe this is about fashion model Karlie Kloss, Swift's best friend from 2014 through 2016. They suspect the pair had a fall out; the pop star then felt betrayed when Kloss started hanging out with her nemesis, Scooter Braun.
• The second verse starts with a tale of someone losing out on promotion at work to an unfit individual.
  
  Twenty years at your job
  Then the son of the boss gets the spot that was yours
  
  Swift's father, Scott, is a former stockbroker who established the Swift Group, a financial advisory group that is part of Merrill Lynch. This may be about obstacles he encountered in his career,
  
  The songstress continues the verse by recounting a marriage that has run its course.
  
  Or trying to stay for the kids
  When keeping it how it is will only break their hearts worse
  
  Swift's parents were married for 25 years before separating in the early 2010s. Worried about offsetting their daughter's career, they kept their marital issues from the press.
• The third verse finds Swift seeming to address her broken relationship with former Big Machine Records label boss Scott Borchetta.
  
  Fifteen years, fifteen million tears
  Begging 'til my knees bled
  I gave it my all, he gave me nothing at all
  Then wondered why I left
  
  Swift signed with Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Records in 2004. Shortly after she left Big Machine 14 years later to sign with Republic, news broke that Borchetta had sold the label, along with the master recordings to her first six albums, to entertainment mogul Scooter Braun. Swift felt betrayed by her former label boss and has compared the breakdown of their relationship to the end of a marriage. She also referenced the deal on several other songs, including Folklore's "My Tears Ricochet" and "Mad Woman."
• Swift concludes in the chorus and the post chorus that when a relationship turns toxic, the bravest thing to do is to walk away. She tweeted: "'It's Time To Go' is about listening to your gut when it tells you to leave."
• Besides the 15 tracks released on the standard issue of Evermore, this song and "Right Where You Left Me" were made available on the physical deluxe edition of the album. Republic released the two bonus tracks to streaming services on January 7, 2021.
• Aaron Dessner produced the song. The National band member worked with Swift on all of the Evermore tracks apart from "Gold Rush," which was a Jack Antonoff collaboration.