my iphone was destroyed. is there anyway that i can retrieve my photos and contacts on my new iphone?

If you were syncing them to iCloud, yes. You can sign in with your Apple ID on the new iPhone and turn on the Contacts option in Settings->Account(top of settings)->iCloud->Contacts

And photos in Settings->Photos->iCloud Photos.

Alternatively if you were backing up your iPhone to iCloud or iTunes on a computer and were not syncing Photos to iCloud, your Photos would be in the backup, and it can be restored to the new iPhone.

Link-> Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

You can restore your new phone from the last backup you made of the old one.

If it wasn't backed up and your photos were not synced to the cloud, then the photos are gone.

Your contacts should have been synced to iCloud or another cloud service and should repopulate when you sign into that account on your new phone.