diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 695a88c..1517f5e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ All notable changes to this driver. The format follows
 ### 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.
 
 ## [0.3.0] - 2026-10-23
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e4c8a7c..e59ff7b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ 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",
     "requests>=2.28.0",
 ]