You can either use this free addin to link data labels to cells
http://www.appspro.com/Utilities/ChartLabeler.htm

Or add a second set of data

So with the data in A1:C5

A 6 apple
B 2 bear
C 1 crab
D 5 dog
E 3 elephant

Create a column chart on range A1:B5. Now add a second series again
using the data in B1:B5. Move this series to the secondary axis. Don't
worry that that the columns cover each other as you need to format the
secondary series to have no fill or border.
Use the source data dialog to specify the range C1:C5 as the secondary
axis labels. Now apply data labels to the second series and change
alignment to inside base. You can delete the secondary y axis and the
entry from the legend.

Cheers
Andy

Apply data labels to the series

wrote:
I have one set of labels I want on the X-axis and then an unrelated set
of labels (which are not the values) that I want inside the bars.

ex. (hard to put in text)
Category labels: A B C D E
y-values that are represented in the bars: 6 2 1 5 3 2
labels inside bars: apple bear crab dog elephant

Is there a separate "data label" option than I am missing?

Thanks.


--

Andy Pope, Microsoft MVP - Excel
http://www.andypope.info