For the scene where Woody looks at the merchandise from "Woody's Roundup", mock-ups of the toys were shown to Tom Hanks in the recording booth. Hanks' spontaneous reactions to the toys were recorded and used for Woody's dialogue.
While driving around Al's Toy Barn, the gang drives down the Buzz Lightyear aisle. Tour Guide Barbie tells them "Back in 1995 short-sighted retailers did not order enough dolls to meet demand". This is an in-joke and a fact: When the original Toy Story (1995) was released, toy sellers did not think the movie would be a hit and they indeed did not order enough dolls to keep up with demand. The joke is also a self-deprecating dig at Mattel Toys, which denied use of the Barbie character in the first film, thinking it would be a flop.
When Hamm is flipping through the channels looking for the Al's Toy Barn commercial, all the other stations show clips from shorts and commercials Pixar produced through the years including Luxo Jr. (1986), El sueño de Red (1987), Tin Toy (1988), and Knick Knack (1989). There is also a logo for the NeXT computer developed by Pixar's then CEO, Steve Jobs, as well as a few clips of some of Pixar's television commercials they did, and a brief image of Pixar's old logo.
There was some discussion with regard to the song "When She Loved Me" and its place in the film. Randy Newman expressed concern over whether or not young children would be able to sit through the three-minute ballad while both Tim Allen and Tom Hanks admitted to being moved to tears by the scene featuring the song.
The dust in the scene where Woody meets Wheezy set a record for number of particles animated for a movie by computer.