diff --git a/.changeset/thick-dancers-guess.md b/.changeset/thick-dancers-guess.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f193ed61964
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/thick-dancers-guess.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/plugin-commands-publishing": patch
+"pnpm": patch
+---
+
+Fix the return path of `pnpm pack`, when a custom destination directory is used [#5471](https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/5471).
diff --git a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/pack.ts b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/pack.ts
index ed894d299c4..1eca9175ff9 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/pack.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/pack.ts
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ export async function handler (
   const destDir = opts.packDestination
     ? (path.isAbsolute(opts.packDestination) ? opts.packDestination : path.join(dir, opts.packDestination ?? '.'))
     : dir
+  await fs.promises.mkdir(destDir, { recursive: true })
   await packPkg({
     destFile: path.join(destDir, tarballName),
     filesMap,
@@ -115,8 +116,8 @@ export async function handler (
   if (!opts.ignoreScripts) {
     await _runScriptsIfPresent(['postpack'], entryManifest)
   }
-  if (opts.dir !== dir) {
-    return path.join(dir, tarballName)
+  if (opts.dir !== destDir) {
+    return path.join(destDir, tarballName)
   }
   return path.relative(opts.dir, path.join(dir, tarballName))
 }
diff --git a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/pack.ts b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/pack.ts
index acb9e2c056a..3715c2f0331 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/pack.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/pack.ts
@@ -262,3 +262,21 @@ test('pack should read from the correct node_modules when publishing from a cust
     },
   })
 })
+
+test('pack to custom destination directory', async () => {
+  prepare({
+    name: 'custom-dest',
+    version: '0.0.0',
+  })
+
+  const output = await pack.handler({
+    ...DEFAULT_OPTS,
+    argv: { original: [] },
+    dir: process.cwd(),
+    extraBinPaths: [],
+    packDestination: path.resolve('custom-dest'),
+    embedReadme: false,
+  })
+
+  expect(output).toBe(path.resolve('custom-dest/custom-dest-0.0.0.tgz'))
+})