diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zebrafy/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zebrafy/default.nix
index c3bf90c078f0..b68ac63bdd6f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/zebrafy/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/zebrafy/default.nix
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   lib,
   buildPythonPackage,
   fetchFromGitHub,
+  fetchpatch,
   setuptools,
   setuptools-scm,
   pillow,
@@ -22,6 +23,14 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     hash = "sha256-B8jrFQh5swDMfYjdMcY0Hh2VAzknDwarDKVAML6F2r4=";
   };
 
+  patches = [
+    # fix compatibility with pypdfium2 5.x: https://github.com/miikanissi/zebrafy/pull/20
+    (fetchpatch {
+      url = "https://github.com/miikanissi/zebrafy/pull/20/commits/cc15c4a28d9e8aec022d22397ff752600b9ede52.patch";
+      hash = "sha256-KAjfKPqmTvfoQN7YPLayPyq2sueDASyU/lMCgLCl1RU=";
+    })
+  ];
+
   build-system = [
     setuptools
     setuptools-scm