diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-minimum-setuptools.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-minimum-setuptools.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e2823e21253
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-minimum-setuptools.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - The minimum required ``setuptools`` version is now ``77.0.3``, as it is needed for the new PEP 639 license format
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7a16270c324..c1d8e68dc55 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools >= 70.1, <= 80.3.1"]  # lower bound to support controller Python versions, upper bound for latest version tested at release
+requires = ["setuptools >= 77.0.3, <= 80.3.1"]  # lower bound to support license/license-files (PEP 639), upper bound for latest version tested at release
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
@@ -10,13 +10,17 @@ authors = [
 ]
 description = "Radically simple IT automation"
 readme = "README.md"
+license = "GPL-3.0-or-later"
+license-files = [
+    "COPYING",
+    "licenses/*.txt",
+]
 classifiers = [
     "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
     "Environment :: Console",
     "Intended Audience :: Developers",
     "Intended Audience :: Information Technology",
     "Intended Audience :: System Administrators",
-    "License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v3 or later (GPLv3+)",
     "Natural Language :: English",
     "Operating System :: POSIX",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
@@ -44,10 +48,6 @@ dependencies = {file = "requirements.txt"}
 
 [tool.setuptools]
 include-package-data = false
-license-files = [
-    "COPYING",
-    "licenses/*.txt",
-]
 
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
 where = ["lib", "test/lib"]