Toy Story 2 features quite a few inside jokes in an effort to uphold the standards of
Pixar.
- The canyon that Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) flies through in the opening sequence is from A Bug's Life.
- When Hamm (John RatzenBerger) is changing channels very quickly on the television, everything playing, with the exception of the "Al's Toy Barn" commercial, is from a Pixar short.
- As revealed in the outtakes, Heimlich (Jon Ranft - A Bug's Life) is on a branch that Buzz pushes out of the way while efforting to find Woody (Tom Hanks), but, unlike the outtake, Flik (Dave Foley) is not.
- At the top of the hill in Jessie's (Joan Cusack) song, When She Loved Me performed by Sarah McLachlan, is a tree. That tree is the tree on the island in A Bug's Life.