The first Toy Story film of any kind (feature film or short film) that did not include Hamm. Director Angus MacLane explained that this was because Bonnie had limited room for toys in her backpack and, "Who takes a piggy bank on a vacation?"
In the graveyard scene in the opening sequence, Betsy falls against a tombstone with the inscription, "RIP Simon J. Palladino - A public servant with a unique vision." Simon J. Palladino was the secret identity of Gazerbeam, a superhero with laser vision, in The Incredibles (2004).
Transitron is a nod to Transformers and Voltron.
Carl Weathers provides the voice of Combat Carl/Combat Carl Jr. Combat Carl is modeled after Carl Weathers's character from Predator (1987), and also after his character, Chubbs, from Happy Gilmore (1996), who was also missing his right hand.