Saying there’s a metal animal outside it (7)
I believe the answer is:
stating
'saying' is the definition.
('state' can be a synonym of 'say')
'a metal animal outside it' is the wordplay.
'a metal animal' becomes 'sating' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'outside' is an insertion indicator.
'it' becomes ''t' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis).
'sating' enclosing 't' is 'STATING'.
'there's' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for stating that I've seen is " Swearing".)