The men's 5000 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on September 1 and 4.

Jake Robertson of New Zealand was added to the final field at the judges' discretion after twice being pushed in his qualifying race.

The tactical final was almost full contact, with a pack of 14 staying close into the penultimate lap. Galen Rupp tried to take the kick out early. As the pack began to break up, Eliud Kipchoge went down while the leaders began to string out the field. Mo Farah led through the final lap as a host of Kenyan and finally Ethiopian athletes Imane Merga and Dejen Gebremeskel took a charge at him. Bernard Lagat worked his way through the traffic, coming up behind the final two Ethiopian runners pulling past them in lane 3 on the final straight. Lagat couldn't catch Farah. Merga finished in third but was later disqualified for stepping on the curb, giving the bronze to Gebremeskel.

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:

World record	Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)	12:37.35	Hengelo, Netherlands	31 May 2004
Championship record	Eliud Kipchoge (KEN)	12:52.79	Paris, France	31 August 2003
World leading	Mo Farah (GBR)	12:53.11	Monaco	22 July 2011
African record	Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)	12:37.35	Hengelo, Netherlands	31 May 2004
Asian record	Saif Saaeed Shaheen (QAT)	12:51.98	Rome, Italy	14 July 2006
North, Central American and Caribbean record	Bernard Lagat (USA)	12:53.60	Monaco	22 July 2011
South American record	Marílson Gomes dos Santos (BRA)	13:19.43	Kassel, Germany	8 June 2006
European record	Mohammed Mourhit (BEL)	12:49.71	Brussels, Belgium	25 August 2000
Oceanian record	Craig Mottram (AUS)	12:55.76	London, Great Britain	30 July 2004