diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
index 55285548803..3aa556b032b 100644
--- a/.github/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -774,7 +774,8 @@ embed.go @grafana/grafana-as-code
 /.github/workflows/auto-milestone.yml @grafana/grafana-developer-enablement-squad
 /.github/workflows/backend-code-checks.yml @grafana/grafana-backend-group
 /.github/workflows/backend-unit-tests.yml @grafana/grafana-backend-group
-/.github/workflows/backport.yml @grafana/grafana-developer-enablement-squad
+/.github/workflows/backport-trigger.yml @grafana/grafana-developer-enablement-squad
+/.github/workflows/backport-workflow.yml @grafana/grafana-developer-enablement-squad
 /.github/workflows/bump-version.yml @grafana/grafana-developer-enablement-squad
 /.github/workflows/release-pr.yml @grafana/grafana-developer-enablement-squad
 /.github/workflows/release-comms.yml @grafana/grafana-developer-enablement-squad
diff --git a/.github/workflows/backport-trigger.yml b/.github/workflows/backport-trigger.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3b3758c573b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/backport-trigger.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# We need secrets to backport, but they're not available for actions ran by forks.
+# So this workflow is used as a 'trigger', which the backport-workflow.yml will with
+# via workflow_run
+
+name: Backport (trigger)
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    types:
+      - closed
+      - labeled
+
+permissions: {}
+
+jobs:
+  trigger:
+    # Only run this job if the PR has been merged and has a label containing "backport v"
+    if: |
+      github.repository == 'grafana/grafana' &&
+      github.event.pull_request.merged == true &&
+      contains(join(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, ','), 'backport v')
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      # TODO: save this as job summary instead?
+      - name: Trigger
+        run: |
+          echo "Triggering workflow"
+          echo "See https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/workflows/workflow_run.yml for progress"
+
+      # Create a JSON artifact with details of this PR to pass to the backport workflow.
+      # The { action: 'labelled', label: 'backport-1.23.x' } can only be determined from this event payload,
+      # and is needed to do a backport after a PR has been merged
+      #
+      # Important that we don't run *anything* from the PR which could modify the backport_data.json file
+      - name: Create action data
+        run: |
+          jq '{
+            action: .action,
+            label: .label.name,
+            pr_number: .number,
+          }' "$GITHUB_EVENT_PATH" > /tmp/pr_info.json
+
+      - name: Upload artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: pr_info
+          path: /tmp/pr_info.json
+          retention-days: 1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/backport-workflow.yml b/.github/workflows/backport-workflow.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..925c6c54bb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/backport-workflow.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+# Runs the actual backport, after being triggered by the backport-trigger.yml workflow.
+
+name: Backport (workflow)
+run-name: "Backport for ${{ github.event.workflow_run.head_branch }} #${{ github.event.workflow_run.run_number }}"
+on:
+  workflow_run: # zizmor: ignore[dangerous-triggers] backport-trigger.yml does not run any user code
+    workflows: ["Backport (trigger)"]
+    types:
+      - completed
+
+permissions: {}
+
+jobs:
+  backport:
+    # Only run this job if the triggering workflow was not skipped (and on grafana repo)
+    if: github.repository == 'grafana/grafana' && github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'success'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write
+      actions: read
+    steps:
+      - name: Get vault secrets
+        id: secrets
+        uses: grafana/shared-workflows/actions/get-vault-secrets@main
+        with:
+          export_env: false
+          # Secrets placed in the ci/data/repo/grafana/grafana/delivery-bot-app path in Vault
+          repo_secrets: |
+            APP_PEM=delivery-bot-app:PRIVATE_KEY
+
+      - name: Generate token
+        id: generate_token
+        uses: tibdex/github-app-token@b62528385c34dbc9f38e5f4225ac829252d1ea92
+        with:
+          app_id: ${{ vars.DELIVERY_BOT_APP_ID }}
+          private_key: ${{ fromJSON(steps.secrets.outputs.secrets).APP_PEM }}
+
+      - name: Download PR info artifact
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        id: download-pr-info
+        with:
+          github-token: ${{ github.token }}
+          run-id: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.id }}
+          name: pr_info
+
+      - name: Get PR info
+        id: pr-info
+        env:
+          PR_INFO_FILE: ${{ steps.download-pr-info.outputs.download-path }}/pr_info.json
+        # jq-magic to convert the JSON object into a list of key=value pairs for $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+        run:
+          jq -r 'to_entries[] | select(.value | type != "object") | "\(.key)=\(.value)"' "$PR_INFO_FILE" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Print PR info
+        env:
+          PR_ACTION: ${{ steps.pr-info.outputs.action }}
+          PR_LABEL: ${{ steps.pr-info.outputs.label }}
+          PR_NUMBER: ${{ steps.pr-info.outputs.pr_number }}
+        run: |
+          echo "PR action: $PR_ACTION"
+          echo "PR label: $PR_LABEL"
+          echo "PR number: $PR_NUMBER"
+
+      - name: Checkout Grafana
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.event.repository.default_branch }}
+          fetch-depth: 2
+          fetch-tags: false
+          token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
+          persist-credentials: true
+
+      - name: Configure git user
+        run: |
+          git config --local user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config --local user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git config --local --add --bool push.autoSetupRemote true
+
+      - name: Run backport
+        uses: grafana/grafana-github-actions-go/backport@dev
+        with:
+          token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
+          # If triggered by being labelled, only backport that label.
+          # Otherwise, the action will backport all labels.
+          pr_label: ${{ steps.pr-info.outputs.action == 'labeled' && steps.pr-info.outputs.label || '' }}
+          pr_number: ${{ steps.pr-info.outputs.pr_number }}
+          repo_owner: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
+          repo_name: ${{ github.event.repository.name }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/backport.yml b/.github/workflows/backport.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 1fc13807d3b..00000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/backport.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-name: Backport PR Creator
-on:
-  pull_request:
-    types:
-      - closed
-      - labeled
-
-jobs:
-  # TODO: This workflow won't work for forks because no secrets are available.
-  # This should, at the least, post the comment with manual backport instructions.
-  main:
-    if: github.repository == 'grafana/grafana'
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    permissions:
-      id-token: write
-    steps:
-      - name: Get vault secrets
-        id: vault-secrets
-        uses: grafana/shared-workflows/actions/get-vault-secrets@main
-        with:
-          # Secrets placed in the ci/data/repo/grafana/grafana/delivery-bot-app path in Vault
-          repo_secrets: |
-            GRAFANA_DELIVERY_BOT_APP_PEM=delivery-bot-app:PRIVATE_KEY
-
-      - name: Generate token
-        id: generate_token
-        uses: tibdex/github-app-token@b62528385c34dbc9f38e5f4225ac829252d1ea92
-        with:
-          app_id: ${{ vars.DELIVERY_BOT_APP_ID }}
-          private_key: ${{ env.GRAFANA_DELIVERY_BOT_APP_PEM }}
-
-      - name: Checkout Grafana
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          ref: main
-          fetch-depth: 2
-          fetch-tags: false
-          token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
-          persist-credentials: true
-
-      - name: Configure git user
-        run: |
-          git config --local user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          git config --local user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git config --local --add --bool push.autoSetupRemote true
-
-      - name: Run backport
-        uses: grafana/grafana-github-actions-go/backport@main
-        with:
-          token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}