diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 86a9fce..39de4cf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ recorded here; their history is the git log.
 ### Changed
 - Python 3.12 is the floor (`requires-python = ">=3.12"`): netOrk runs every driver
   on 3.12, so 3.10 and 3.11 are no longer tested (NAPALM/driver-standard#6).
+- The floor on napalm is 5.1: older releases import `pkg_resources`, which a Python
+  3.12 venv no longer has.
 
 ## [0.7.0] - 2026-10-23
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3656187..7342c80 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ classifiers = [
     "Operating System :: MacOS",
 ]
 dependencies = [
-    "napalm>=4.0.0",
+    "napalm>=5.1",  # older releases import pkg_resources, which a 3.12 venv lacks
     "napalm_device_types>=4.21.1",
     "netmiko>=4.0.0",
     "paramiko>=5.0.0",  # CVE-2026-44405