diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 313ef49eb..d6f0caefb 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ Features added
 * #6762: latex: Allow to load additonal LaTeX packages via ``extrapackages`` key
   of :confval:`latex_elements`
 * #1331: Add new config variable: :confval:`user_agent`
+* #6000: LaTeX: have backslash also be an inline literal word wrap break
+  character
 
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
@@ -47,6 +49,7 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #5070: epub: Wrong internal href fragment links
 * #6712: Allow not to install sphinx.testing as runtime (mainly for ALT Linux)
 * #6741: html: search result was broken with empty :confval:`html_file_suffix`
+* #6001: LaTeX does not wrap long code lines at backslash character
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/doc/latex.rst b/doc/latex.rst
index 7321f964b..01c0e0cb8 100644
--- a/doc/latex.rst
+++ b/doc/latex.rst
@@ -619,12 +619,15 @@ macros may be significant.
     default ``true``. Allows linebreaks inside inline literals: but extra
     potential break-points (additionally to those allowed by LaTeX at spaces
     or for hyphenation) are currently inserted only after the characters
-    ``. , ; ? ! /``. Due to TeX internals, white space in the line will be
-    stretched (or shrunk) in order to accomodate the linebreak.
+    ``. , ; ? ! /`` and ``\``. Due to TeX internals, white space in the line
+    will be stretched (or shrunk) in order to accomodate the linebreak.
 
     .. versionadded:: 1.5
        set this option value to ``false`` to recover former behaviour.
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 2.3.0
+       added potential breakpoint at ``\`` characters.
+
 ``verbatimvisiblespace``
     default ``\textcolor{red}{\textvisiblespace}``. When a long code line is
     split, the last space character from the source code line right before the
diff --git a/sphinx/texinputs/sphinx.sty b/sphinx/texinputs/sphinx.sty
index 6065be81b..6023e6d22 100644
--- a/sphinx/texinputs/sphinx.sty
+++ b/sphinx/texinputs/sphinx.sty
@@ -1054,7 +1054,7 @@
 % Take advantage of the already applied Pygments mark-up to insert
 % potential linebreaks for TeX processing.
 %        {, <, #, %, $, ' and ": go to next line.
-%        _, }, ^, &, >, - and ~: stay at end of broken line.
+%        _, }, ^, &, >, -, ~, and \: stay at end of broken line.
 % Use of \textquotesingle for straight quote.
 % FIXME: convert this to package options ?
 \newcommand*\sphinxbreaksbeforelist {%
@@ -1066,6 +1066,7 @@
 \newcommand*\sphinxbreaksafterlist {%
     \do\PYGZus\_\do\PYGZcb\}\do\PYGZca\^\do\PYGZam\&% _, }, ^, &,
     \do\PYGZgt\>\do\PYGZhy\-\do\PYGZti\~% >, -, ~
+    \do\PYGZbs\\% \
 }
 \newcommand*\sphinxbreaksatspecials {%
   \def\do##1##2%
@@ -1314,6 +1315,7 @@
      {\def##1{\discretionary{\char`##2}{\sphinxafterbreak}{\char`##2}}}%
   \do\_\_\do\}\}\do\textasciicircum\^\do\&\&% _, }, ^, &,
   \do\textgreater\>\do\textasciitilde\~% >, ~
+  \do\textbackslash\\% \
 }
 \newcommand*\sphinxbreaksviaactiveinparsedliteral{%
   \sphinxbreaksviaactive % by default handles . , ; ? ! /
@@ -1736,13 +1738,25 @@
 % to obtain straight quotes we execute \@noligs as patched by upquote, and
 % \scantokens is needed in cases where it would be too late for the macro to
 % first set catcodes and then fetch its argument. We also make the contents
-% breakable at non-escaped . , ; ? ! / using \sphinxbreaksviaactive.
+% breakable at non-escaped . , ; ? ! / using \sphinxbreaksviaactive,
+% and also at \ character (which is escaped to \textbackslash{}).
+\protected\def\sphinxtextbackslashbreakbefore
+ {\discretionary{}{\sphinxafterbreak\sphinx@textbackslash}{\sphinx@textbackslash}}
+\protected\def\sphinxtextbackslashbreakafter
+ {\discretionary{\sphinx@textbackslash}{\sphinxafterbreak}{\sphinx@textbackslash}}
+\let\sphinxtextbackslash\sphinxtextbackslashbreakafter
 % the macro must be protected if it ends up used in moving arguments,
 % in 'alltt' \@noligs is done already, and the \scantokens must be avoided.
 \protected\def\sphinxupquote#1{{\def\@tempa{alltt}%
   \ifx\@tempa\@currenvir\else
    \ifspx@opt@inlineliteralwraps
-      \sphinxbreaksviaactive\let\sphinxafterbreak\empty
+      % break at . , ; ? ! /
+      \sphinxbreaksviaactive
+      % break also at \
+      \let\sphinx@textbackslash\textbackslash
+      \let\textbackslash\sphinxtextbackslash
+      % do not typeset a continuation symbol on next line
+      \let\sphinxafterbreak\sphinxafterbreakofinlineliteral
       % do not overwrite the comma set-up
       \let\verbatim@nolig@list\sphinx@literal@nolig@list
    \fi
@@ -1754,6 +1768,7 @@
 \def\sphinx@do@noligs #1{\catcode`#1\active\begingroup\lccode`\~`#1\relax
     \lowercase{\endgroup\def~{\leavevmode\kern\z@\char`#1 }}}
 \def\sphinx@literal@nolig@list {\do\`\do\<\do\>\do\'\do\-}%
+\let\sphinxafterbreakofinlineliteral\empty
 
 % Some custom font markup commands.
 \protected\def\sphinxstrong#1{\textbf{#1}}