In Star Driver numerous references are made to various things
| Item | Reference |
| Raging Bull | Nickname of boxer Jake LaMotta |
| Mrs. Watanabe | "In the context of the Japanese economy, Mrs. Watanabe is a generic, collective name for housewives who deal in foreign exchange." (Wikipedia) |
| Night Flight Drama Club | Named after a novel of the same name by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. |
| Simone Aragon | Named after the protagonist's wife, Simone Fabien, in Night Flight. |
| "A wheel, a wheel. A great wheel." | Excerpt(?) from Herman Hesse's novel, Beneath the Wheel. |
| Sam the Squid Piercer
Sam the Squid Piercer (Ikasashi Samu) |
Reverse the syllables to get Musashi-Sakai, a train station. |
| Café Eater | Igarashi's previous directing job, Soul Eater. |
| Grand Tonnerre Foundation | Featured in Igarashi and Enokido's previous collaboration, Ouran High School Host Club. |
| "The pancakes with the tiger's butter" | From the children's book Little Black Sambo. |
| Tsubasa Aoki | lit. "blue tree wing". Related to the French play The Blue Bird. Was also mentioned in Bones' previous works RahXephon (which Enokido also worked on) and Eureka Seven. |
| The guardians | Custom on Amami Ooshima. |
| Mami Yano | "The Ya̧nomamö [or Yanomami] are a large population of indigenous Amerindian people in South America." (Wikipedia) |
| Katami Wakachita Yagadanse | Reverse the syllables to form Sendagaya Tachikawa Mikata (various train stations) |
| Young Gangan | The magazine in which the Star Driver manga is serialized. |
| Karaoke Nichigo | Star Driver airs in the Nichigo timeslot (Sundays 5PM) |
| "Life is short, so girls, fall in love!" | Lyrics from the song "Gondola no Uta". |
| Orihalcon | "Orichalcum is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, most notably the story of Atlantis as recounted in the Critias dialogue, recorded by Plato." (Wikipedia) |
| Fireworks confession game (ep. 18) | Game is 打ち明け花火 (uchiake hanabi, being frank fireworks). Pun of 打ち上げ花火 (uchiage hanabi), which are skyrockets, a type of firework. |
| Star Sword Perle | The Kei (彐) in Madoka Kei means pig's snout. Refers to the Biblical proverb "Do not cast your pearls before swine". |
| Movie (ep. 19) | The film's name 愛と青春の爆発 (Love and the Explosion of Youth) is a parody of the American film An Officer and a Gentleman, (愛と青春の旅だち, Love and the Departure of Youth). |
| Shindou mansion | Based off of the Western-style house on the Moroto family's Rokkaen estate in Mie Prefecture. |