The Way We Were has been referenced in numerous films and television shows including The Jerk (1979), Starting Over (1979), Fame (1980), Big (1988), Cheers, The Bob Newhart Show, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, Who's the Boss?, Family Ties, Dallas, The Simpsons, The Nanny and Frasier.

Composer Marvin Hamlisch titled his 1992 memoir The Way I Was, a clear reference to the film.

In addition to scoring her first number one single with her recording of the song "The Way We Were," Barbra Streisand also recorded an album separate from the hit movie soundtrack called The Way We Were that went double platinum.

Versions of the song "The Way We Were" have been recorded by numerous musical artists over the years including Doris Day, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Shirley Bassey, Donna Summer and Barry Manilow.

Almost a decade later, according to Arthur Laurents, Robert Redford approached him to write a new love story for him to star in. "What I came up with was the last thing either of us thought we wanted: a sequel to The Way We Were," said Laurents. "But it had the makings of a very different kind of love story with many facets and unexpected permutations. Hubbell and their daughter (a radical like Katie), who comes on to him not knowing he is her father; Katie and Hubbell who never stopped loving one another; Katie jealous of her daughter and deeply attached to her second husband, David, who loves her and the daughter he has really been a father to...Add an ending at the chaotic 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago with police brutality against marching protesters who are shouting to the TV cameras: 'The whole world's watching!' The possibilities were exciting."

Laurents completed the screenplay for the sequel and sent it to Redford. However, Redford ultimately declined to develop the project. Barbra Streisand really liked the new screenplay and years later even considered directing it herself. However, the sequel to The Way We Were never came to fruition. When Oprah Winfrey asked Redford in 2010 why he never agreed to make the film, he replied, "Certain things should be left alone, and this was one of them."

In her famed show Gilda Live filmed by Mike Nichols in 1980, comedienne Gilda Radner performs a humorous version of the song "The Way We Were" as character Lisa Lupner. During the song Lupner breaks down crying and talks about the film at length, eventually getting the audience to join her singing the last part of the song.

In 2008 Beyonce Knowles sang "The Way We Were" to Barbra Streisand as part of the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C. honoring Streisand.

When Robert Redford was given an honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar® at the Academy Awards in 2002, it was Barbra Streisand who affectionately introduced him and handed him the statuette. When he accepted the award, he looked at Streisand and said referring to The Way We Were, "I guess this is a sequel, huh, Bab?"

In 2010 Barbra Streisand was a guest on Oprah and sang "The Way We Were" at Oprah Winfrey's request. When she finished the song, Robert Redford appeared on stage, surprising Streisand. The two then sat down for an interview together and discussed making The Way We Were.

In the season 2 episode of Sex and the City "Ex and the City," Carrie and her girlfriends sit inside a restaurant and discuss The Way We Were, saying that there are two kinds of girls in the world: the simple girls and the complicated "Katie" girls, a reference to Barbra Streisand's character in the film. Carrie decides that she is a "Katie" girl, which explains why she and her on-again/off-again boyfriend "Big" broke up. Later when she sees "Big" outside the Plaza hotel after his engagement party, she goes over to him, brushes the hair out of his eyes and says, "Your girl is lovely, Hubbell," taking a line straight out of the film.

by Andrea Passafiume