"Ah, The Breakfast Club soundtrack. Man, I can't wait till I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff."
References to The Breakfast Club in other media.
For works that reference the entire plot, see The Breakfast Plot. For works that spoof the poster, see "The Breakfast Club" Poster Homage.
Film - Animated
- In The LEGO Ninjago Movie, a minifigure resembling John Bender can be seen at the back of the school bus and in the courtyard of the high school.
- In Bumblebee, the titular character watches the film, does the iconic fist pump a few times throughout the film, and as he says goodbye to the girl he befriended he plays the theme song to the film, Don't You (Forget About Me).
- Paul Gleason reprised his role as Dean Vernon in Not Another Teen Movie for a cameo that parodies the "Don't mess with the bull" scene. Molly Ringwald also makes a cameo.
- The film itself has some minor plot significance in Pitch Perfect. Most of it is involved within Beca and Jesse's love arc, as watching the film makes Beca more appreciative of the people in her life. The film's theme song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" is also used during the Bellas' set for the ICCA finals.
- In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Michelle is in detention even though she doesn't need to be. She's just being weird and drawing pictures, much like Ally Sheedy's character. John Hughes' movies influenced this film, according to Word of God.
- Director John Singleton loved The Breakfast Club, and credits John Hughes for giving him the template for the characters in his own film Boyz n the Hood.
- In Go, Todd does the whole "Are you a virgin?" bit with a character named, of course, Claire, until she recognizes he's referencing The Breakfast Club.
- In Harmonic Feedback, Drea's film teacher says, "I suddenly feel like I'm in detention with Anthony Michael Hall. Interestingly enough, The Breakfast Club is one of the first films we're going to watch."
- In Queens of Geek, Taylor and Jamie watch the movie while discussing their favorite characters. Taylor's is Allison, while Jamie's is Bender.
- Prudence Penderhaus: In 17 Marigold Lane, Prudence, Cassius, Bonnie, and Heego all watch The Breakfast Club together at Prudence's house. Cassius quotes along with the movie, and soon everyone else joins in.
- Community: The pilot has Abed saying that their group can start off by mimicking the movie and he even re-enacts one scene when tensions get high.
- The Cold Case episode "The Sleepover" flashes back to a group of girls in 1990 watching the movie on television and commenting on Andy choosing Allison over Claire. For bonus points, the episode was directed by Emilio Estevez.
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Stephen Colbert was forced to relocate the show from the Ed Sullivan Theater to a small office, retitling the show A Late Show to reflect this. This lasted till June 2021, when they were given permission to return to the regular studio, so Stephen spent the final episode of isolation reflecting upon the previous 15 months, emulating the ending of this movie.Stephen: While we accept that we had to spent the last 15 months in quarantine, I think it's crazy to let that define who we are. Americans like to see each other in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But we've learned that each of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Sincerely yours, A Late Show.(Stephen pumps his fist as Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" starts playing)
- This was discussed and averted in the One Tree Hill episode "With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept" with Jimmy Edwards. After holding up the school with a gun before committing suicide, he says to the classroom where Mouth, Haley, Nathan and others are staying that it will not be like the film where all the different walks of life just instantly bonded with one another over a joint.
- An Easter Egg in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory prints a line from the film on the screen: "Screws fall out all the time, the world’s an imperfect place." Furthermore, the code to activate it (021585) references the day the film was released (February 15th, 1985).
- One of the events of Monster Prom has the player convincing Damien that he can have fun while stuck in detention. By the next time, you hear about it, references about a legendary day at detention are made, including that Damien has been stuck on the movie's Signature Scene in the football field for days.
- In How Inside Out Should Have Ended, when Bing Bong runs away, a spoof of the movie's theme "Don't You (Forget About Me)" is played with Bing Bong-specific lyrics, referencing the football field scene at the end of the movie.
- Family Guy: "Let's Go to the Hop", Peter gets detention while posing as a high school student and meets the "Breakfast Club". Said students are a group of breakfast cereal mascots, with Tony the Tiger doing a parody of the "Smoke up, Johnny" monologue. The ending is also the same.
- John Bender makes a cameo in the episode “Blue Harvest” saying his line; “Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?”
- Gravity Falls: In the "Land Before Swine" episode, there is a scene where Mabel and Waddles dance. Their movements mimic those of the characters of the film.
- Matt Groening loves this movie:
- Bart Simpson's Character Catchphrase "Eat my shorts" came from one of Bender's lines in the movie.
- In the Simpsons episode "Bart Stops To Smell The Roosevelts", Superintendent Chalmers has a flashback to when he was a teacher. Dressed in a suit similar to Vernon's, he thinks he is supervising The Breakfast Club, but Andrew Clark tells him that they're the Fight Club, and proceeds to beat the shit out of him as Don't You (Forget About Me) begins to play. They also do their iconic dances ON top of the beaten Chalmers.
- Futurama's Bender was named after the character.
- In "The Luck of the Fryrish", Fry hid his lucky seven-leaf clover in his copy of the film's soundtrack album. His brother Yancy ended up finding it when he decided to play the album at his wedding reception.
