diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 703fe79e169..06170df51ac 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@
 # so that it is in sys.modules
 import numpy.distutils.command.sdist
 import setuptools
+if int(setuptools.__version__.split('.')[0]) >= 60:
+    raise RuntimeError(
+        "Setuptools version is '{}', version < '60.0.0' is required. "
+        "See pyproject.toml".format(setuptools.__version__))
 
 # Initialize cmdclass from versioneer
 from numpy.distutils.core import numpy_cmdclass