diff --git a/datafusion/catalog-listing/src/helpers.rs b/datafusion/catalog-listing/src/helpers.rs
index 00e9c71df348..bfafac931df8 100644
--- a/datafusion/catalog-listing/src/helpers.rs
+++ b/datafusion/catalog-listing/src/helpers.rs
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ pub fn expr_applicable_for_cols(col_names: &[&str], expr: &Expr) -> bool {
         }
         Expr::Literal(_, _)
         | Expr::Alias(_)
-        | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _)
+        | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_)
         | Expr::ScalarVariable(_, _)
         | Expr::Not(_)
         | Expr::IsNotNull(_)
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs
index 0749ff0e98b7..713a5737f6cb 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 use std::cmp::Ordering;
 use std::collections::{BTreeMap, HashSet};
-use std::fmt::{self, Display, Formatter, Write};
+use std::fmt::{self, Debug, Display, Formatter, Write};
 use std::hash::{Hash, Hasher};
 use std::mem;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ pub enum Expr {
     Placeholder(Placeholder),
     /// A placeholder which holds a reference to a qualified field
     /// in the outer query, used for correlated sub queries.
-    OuterReferenceColumn(DataType, Column),
+    OuterReferenceColumn(Box<OuterReference>),
     /// Unnest expression
     Unnest(Unnest),
 }
@@ -413,6 +413,18 @@ impl<'a> TreeNodeContainer<'a, Self> for Expr {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Clone, PartialEq, Eq, Hash, PartialOrd, Ord)]
+pub struct OuterReference {
+    pub data_type: DataType,
+    pub column: Column,
+}
+
+impl Debug for OuterReference {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{:?}, {:?}", self.data_type, self.column)
+    }
+}
+
 /// Literal metadata
 ///
 /// Stores metadata associated with a literal expressions
@@ -1443,7 +1455,7 @@ impl Expr {
             Expr::Case { .. } => "Case",
             Expr::Cast { .. } => "Cast",
             Expr::Column(..) => "Column",
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _) => "Outer",
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_) => "Outer",
             Expr::Exists { .. } => "Exists",
             Expr::GroupingSet(..) => "GroupingSet",
             Expr::InList { .. } => "InList",
@@ -2018,7 +2030,7 @@ impl Expr {
             | Expr::SimilarTo(..)
             | Expr::Not(..)
             | Expr::Negative(..)
-            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _)
+            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_)
             | Expr::TryCast(..)
             | Expr::Unnest(..)
             | Expr::Wildcard { .. }
@@ -2601,9 +2613,9 @@ impl HashNode for Expr {
             Expr::Placeholder(place_holder) => {
                 place_holder.hash(state);
             }
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(data_type, column) => {
-                data_type.hash(state);
-                column.hash(state);
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(boxed_orc) => {
+                boxed_orc.data_type.hash(state);
+                boxed_orc.column.hash(state);
             }
             Expr::Unnest(Unnest { expr: _expr }) => {}
         };
@@ -2908,7 +2920,7 @@ struct SqlDisplay<'a>(&'a Expr);
 impl Display for SqlDisplay<'_> {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
         match self.0 {
-            Expr::Literal(scalar, _) => scalar.fmt(f),
+            Expr::Literal(scalar, _) => Display::fmt(&scalar, f),
             Expr::Alias(Alias { name, .. }) => write!(f, "{name}"),
             Expr::Between(Between {
                 expr,
@@ -3171,7 +3183,8 @@ impl Display for Expr {
         match self {
             Expr::Alias(Alias { expr, name, .. }) => write!(f, "{expr} AS {name}"),
             Expr::Column(c) => write!(f, "{c}"),
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, c) => {
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(boxed_orc) => {
+                let c = &boxed_orc.column;
                 write!(f, "{OUTER_REFERENCE_COLUMN_PREFIX}({c})")
             }
             Expr::ScalarVariable(_, var_names) => write!(f, "{}", var_names.join(".")),
@@ -3818,7 +3831,7 @@ mod test {
         // If this test fails when you change `Expr`, please try
         // `Box`ing the fields to make `Expr` smaller
         // See https://github.com/apache/datafusion/issues/16199 for details
-        assert_eq!(size_of::<Expr>(), 128);
+        assert_eq!(size_of::<Expr>(), 112);
         assert_eq!(size_of::<ScalarValue>(), 64);
         assert_eq!(size_of::<DataType>(), 24); // 3 ptrs
         assert_eq!(size_of::<Vec<Expr>>(), 24);
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs
index 001dfce59ccd..42f046e230c1 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
 
 use crate::expr::{
     AggregateFunction, BinaryExpr, Cast, Exists, GroupingSet, InList, InSubquery,
-    Placeholder, TryCast, Unnest, WildcardOptions, WindowFunction, WindowFunctionParams,
+    OuterReference, Placeholder, TryCast, Unnest, WildcardOptions, WindowFunction,
+    WindowFunctionParams,
 };
 use crate::function::{
     AccumulatorArgs, AccumulatorFactoryFunction, PartitionEvaluatorFactory,
@@ -69,7 +70,13 @@ pub fn col(ident: impl Into<Column>) -> Expr {
 /// Create an out reference column which hold a reference that has been resolved to a field
 /// outside of the current plan.
 pub fn out_ref_col(dt: DataType, ident: impl Into<Column>) -> Expr {
-    Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(dt, ident.into())
+    Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(
+        OuterReference {
+            data_type: dt,
+            column: ident.into(),
+        }
+        .into(),
+    )
 }
 
 /// Create an unqualified column expression from the provided name, without normalizing
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_rewriter/mod.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_rewriter/mod.rs
index 05a9425452a1..1609ae65b1e9 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_rewriter/mod.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_rewriter/mod.rs
@@ -200,8 +200,9 @@ pub fn unnormalize_cols(exprs: impl IntoIterator<Item = Expr>) -> Vec<Expr> {
 pub fn strip_outer_reference(expr: Expr) -> Expr {
     expr.transform(|expr| {
         Ok({
-            if let Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, col) = expr {
-                Transformed::yes(Expr::Column(col))
+            // Match the boxed (DataType, Column) tuple and extract the Column
+            if let Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(boxed_pair) = expr {
+                Transformed::yes(Expr::Column(boxed_pair.column))
             } else {
                 Transformed::no(expr)
             }
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_schema.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_schema.rs
index 8ca479bb6f9b..7561712208fb 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_schema.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_schema.rs
@@ -112,7 +112,9 @@ impl ExprSchemable for Expr {
             },
             Expr::Negative(expr) => expr.get_type(schema),
             Expr::Column(c) => Ok(schema.data_type(c)?.clone()),
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(ty, _) => Ok(ty.clone()),
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(boxed_orc) => {
+                Ok(boxed_orc.as_ref().data_type.clone())
+            }
             Expr::ScalarVariable(ty, _) => Ok(ty.clone()),
             Expr::Literal(l, _) => Ok(l.data_type()),
             Expr::Case(case) => {
@@ -276,7 +278,7 @@ impl ExprSchemable for Expr {
                 || high.nullable(input_schema)?),
 
             Expr::Column(c) => input_schema.nullable(c),
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _) => Ok(true),
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_) => Ok(true),
             Expr::Literal(value, _) => Ok(value.is_null()),
             Expr::Case(case) => {
                 // This expression is nullable if any of the input expressions are nullable
@@ -411,9 +413,11 @@ impl ExprSchemable for Expr {
             }
             Expr::Negative(expr) => expr.to_field(schema).map(|(_, f)| f),
             Expr::Column(c) => schema.field_from_column(c).map(|f| Arc::new(f.clone())),
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(ty, _) => {
-                Ok(Arc::new(Field::new(&schema_name, ty.clone(), true)))
-            }
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(boxed_alias) => Ok(Arc::new(Field::new(
+                &schema_name,
+                boxed_alias.as_ref().data_type.clone(),
+                true,
+            ))),
             Expr::ScalarVariable(ty, _) => {
                 Ok(Arc::new(Field::new(&schema_name, ty.clone(), true)))
             }
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/tree_node.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/tree_node.rs
index f953aec5a1e3..04c9a4bccbaa 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/tree_node.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/tree_node.rs
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ impl TreeNode for Expr {
             #[expect(deprecated)]
             Expr::Column(_)
             // Treat OuterReferenceColumn as a leaf expression
-            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _)
+            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_)
             | Expr::ScalarVariable(_, _)
             | Expr::Literal(_, _)
             | Expr::Exists { .. }
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ impl TreeNode for Expr {
             Expr::Column(_)
             | Expr::Wildcard { .. }
             | Expr::Placeholder(Placeholder { .. })
-            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _)
+            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_)
             | Expr::Exists { .. }
             | Expr::ScalarSubquery(_)
             | Expr::ScalarVariable(_, _)
diff --git a/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs b/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs
index a98b0fdcc3d3..567cfee95f32 100644
--- a/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs
+++ b/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ impl TreeNodeRewriter for TypeCoercionRewriter<'_> {
             | Expr::Wildcard { .. }
             | Expr::GroupingSet(_)
             | Expr::Placeholder(_)
-            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _) => Ok(Transformed::no(expr)),
+            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_) => Ok(Transformed::no(expr)),
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/datafusion/optimizer/src/optimize_projections/mod.rs b/datafusion/optimizer/src/optimize_projections/mod.rs
index 7b7be82b70ca..7b2849d2ca0a 100644
--- a/datafusion/optimizer/src/optimize_projections/mod.rs
+++ b/datafusion/optimizer/src/optimize_projections/mod.rs
@@ -637,8 +637,8 @@ fn outer_columns<'a>(expr: &'a Expr, columns: &mut HashSet<&'a Column>) {
     // inspect_expr_pre doesn't handle subquery references, so find them explicitly
     expr.apply(|expr| {
         match expr {
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, col) => {
-                columns.insert(col);
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(boxed_orc) => {
+                columns.insert(&boxed_orc.as_ref().column);
             }
             Expr::ScalarSubquery(subquery) => {
                 outer_columns_helper_multi(&subquery.outer_ref_columns, columns);
diff --git a/datafusion/optimizer/src/push_down_filter.rs b/datafusion/optimizer/src/push_down_filter.rs
index bcb867f6e7fa..a6a06c0360b7 100644
--- a/datafusion/optimizer/src/push_down_filter.rs
+++ b/datafusion/optimizer/src/push_down_filter.rs
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ fn can_evaluate_as_join_condition(predicate: &Expr) -> Result<bool> {
         Expr::Exists { .. }
         | Expr::InSubquery(_)
         | Expr::ScalarSubquery(_)
-        | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _)
+        | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_)
         | Expr::Unnest(_) => {
             is_evaluate = false;
             Ok(TreeNodeRecursion::Stop)
diff --git a/datafusion/optimizer/src/simplify_expressions/expr_simplifier.rs b/datafusion/optimizer/src/simplify_expressions/expr_simplifier.rs
index 13e27612ae49..3d9d952b83d6 100644
--- a/datafusion/optimizer/src/simplify_expressions/expr_simplifier.rs
+++ b/datafusion/optimizer/src/simplify_expressions/expr_simplifier.rs
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ impl<'a> ConstEvaluator<'a> {
             Expr::AggregateFunction { .. }
             | Expr::ScalarVariable(_, _)
             | Expr::Column(_)
-            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _)
+            | Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_)
             | Expr::Exists { .. }
             | Expr::InSubquery(_)
             | Expr::ScalarSubquery(_)
diff --git a/datafusion/sql/src/expr/identifier.rs b/datafusion/sql/src/expr/identifier.rs
index 434ac50bce50..283ef60e534a 100644
--- a/datafusion/sql/src/expr/identifier.rs
+++ b/datafusion/sql/src/expr/identifier.rs
@@ -15,18 +15,18 @@
 // specific language governing permissions and limitations
 // under the License.
 
+use crate::planner::{ContextProvider, PlannerContext, SqlToRel};
 use arrow::datatypes::Field;
 use datafusion_common::{
     internal_err, not_impl_err, plan_datafusion_err, plan_err, Column, DFSchema,
     DataFusionError, Result, Span, TableReference,
 };
+use datafusion_expr::expr::OuterReference;
 use datafusion_expr::planner::PlannerResult;
+use datafusion_expr::UNNAMED_TABLE;
 use datafusion_expr::{Case, Expr};
 use sqlparser::ast::{CaseWhen, Expr as SQLExpr, Ident};
 
-use crate::planner::{ContextProvider, PlannerContext, SqlToRel};
-use datafusion_expr::UNNAMED_TABLE;
-
 impl<S: ContextProvider> SqlToRel<'_, S> {
     pub(super) fn sql_identifier_to_expr(
         &self,
@@ -75,8 +75,11 @@ impl<S: ContextProvider> SqlToRel<'_, S> {
                 {
                     // Found an exact match on a qualified name in the outer plan schema, so this is an outer reference column
                     return Ok(Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(
-                        field.data_type().clone(),
-                        Column::from((qualifier, field)),
+                        OuterReference {
+                            data_type: field.data_type().clone(),
+                            column: Column::from((qualifier, field)),
+                        }
+                        .into(),
                     ));
                 }
             }
@@ -182,8 +185,11 @@ impl<S: ContextProvider> SqlToRel<'_, S> {
                                 Some((field, qualifier, _nested_names)) => {
                                     // Found an exact match on a qualified name in the outer plan schema, so this is an outer reference column
                                     Ok(Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(
-                                        field.data_type().clone(),
-                                        Column::from((qualifier, field)),
+                                        OuterReference {
+                                            data_type: field.data_type().clone(),
+                                            column: Column::from((qualifier, field)),
+                                        }
+                                        .into(),
                                     ))
                                 }
                                 // Found no matching field, will return a default
diff --git a/datafusion/sql/src/unparser/expr.rs b/datafusion/sql/src/unparser/expr.rs
index 4ddd5ccccbbd..245e6dedebff 100644
--- a/datafusion/sql/src/unparser/expr.rs
+++ b/datafusion/sql/src/unparser/expr.rs
@@ -512,7 +512,9 @@ impl Unparser<'_> {
             Expr::Placeholder(p) => {
                 Ok(ast::Expr::value(ast::Value::Placeholder(p.id.to_string())))
             }
-            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, col) => self.col_to_sql(col),
+            Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(boxed_orc) => {
+                self.col_to_sql(&boxed_orc.as_ref().column)
+            }
             Expr::Unnest(unnest) => self.unnest_to_sql(unnest),
         }
     }
diff --git a/datafusion/substrait/src/logical_plan/producer/expr/mod.rs b/datafusion/substrait/src/logical_plan/producer/expr/mod.rs
index 42e1f962f1d1..9ef1e0749194 100644
--- a/datafusion/substrait/src/logical_plan/producer/expr/mod.rs
+++ b/datafusion/substrait/src/logical_plan/producer/expr/mod.rs
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ pub fn to_substrait_rex(
         Expr::Wildcard { .. } => not_impl_err!("Cannot convert {expr:?} to Substrait"),
         Expr::GroupingSet(expr) => not_impl_err!("Cannot convert {expr:?} to Substrait"),
         Expr::Placeholder(expr) => not_impl_err!("Cannot convert {expr:?} to Substrait"),
-        Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_, _) => {
+        Expr::OuterReferenceColumn(_) => {
             not_impl_err!("Cannot convert {expr:?} to Substrait")
         }
         Expr::Unnest(expr) => not_impl_err!("Cannot convert {expr:?} to Substrait"),