Is there a literary term for the circular nature of a story?

Your question is a tad broad but you may be thinking of the "Hero's Journey" or "monomyth". The steps of the journey are:

1. Departure


2. Initiation


3. Return

The Wikipedia article has plenty of details for each step. For instance, the subgroups for Departure are:

1. The Call to Adventure


2. Refusal of the Call


3. Supernatural Aid


4. The Crossing of the First Threshold


5. Belly of The Whale

The term originated with Joseph Campbell's work on myth and examples can be found in plenty of works. Two modern examples are Star Wars and Ender's Game.

Edit: In response to the clarification, here are a few relevant terms.

• throwback


• callback


• revisiting


• reminiscent