diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 594238d2c..927c39201 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ def get_data_files():
     'jinja2>=2.4',
     'pygments>=2.4.1',
     'jupyterlab_pygments',
-    'traitlets>=4.2',
+    'traitlets>=5.0',
     'jupyter_core',
     'nbformat>=4.4',
     'entrypoints>=0.2.2',