[1] For Final Fantasy VII, Toriyama designed events such as the ones taking place at the Honey Bee Inn.

[3] After the merger between Square and Enix in 2003, many rookie staff members had to be trained and there were more new platforms to develop for with the release of the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

[4] During the first year after the development start of Final Fantasy XIII in April 2004, Toriyama thought up a story premised on the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology created by Kazushige Nojima.

In March 2006, when the structural part of the narrative started to come together and lead scenario writer Daisuke Watanabe joined the team, Toriyama showed him a rough outline of what he had written and asked him to flesh out the story and to correct how everything would connect.

[9] He was an inaugural member of the Square Enix committee tasked with keeping the Final Fantasy series consistent.

[16] Toriyama has stated that the aim of the linear game design used in the first half of Final Fantasy XIII was to feel like watching a film.

[17] Toriyama explained that the amount of memory and processing power needed to produce impressive graphics was the main reason not to have a seamless battle system for Final Fantasy XIII.

[19][20] He feels that his role of director marked a shift from creating a game world based on his own vision to unifying a team's ideas into a cohesive whole.