diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/dataTypeGetter.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/dataTypeGetter.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7fc5bdee2436
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/dataTypeGetter.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{^useOptional}}{{>nullableDataType}}{{/useOptional}}{{#useOptional}}{{>optionalDataTypeGetter}}{{/useOptional}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/dataTypePojo.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/dataTypePojo.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..55277f3d0994
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/dataTypePojo.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{^useOptional}}{{>nullableDataType}}{{/useOptional}}{{#useOptional}}{{>optionalPojoDataType}}{{/useOptional}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/defaultValuePojo.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/defaultValuePojo.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e4158c69ee57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/defaultValuePojo.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{^useOptional}}{{>nullableDefaultValue}}{{/useOptional}}{{#useOptional}}{{>optionalDefaultValue}}{{/useOptional}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/libraries/spring-cloud/pom.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/libraries/spring-cloud/pom.mustache
index 4e1f61b8ae35..929a02a2d8f3 100644
--- a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/libraries/spring-cloud/pom.mustache
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/libraries/spring-cloud/pom.mustache
@@ -81,11 +81,13 @@
             <version>2.6.4</version>
         </dependency>
         {{/threetenbp}}
+        {{^useOptional}}
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.openapitools</groupId>
             <artifactId>jackson-databind-nullable</artifactId>
             <version>0.1.0</version>
         </dependency>
+        {{/useOptional}}
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/model.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/model.mustache
index 60d7d41fe48d..ce9b211fdaeb 100644
--- a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/model.mustache
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/model.mustache
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ package {{package}};
 import java.util.Objects;
 {{#imports}}import {{import}};
 {{/imports}}
+{{^useOptional}}
 import org.openapitools.jackson.nullable.JsonNullable;
+{{/useOptional}}
 {{#serializableModel}}
 import java.io.Serializable;
 {{/serializableModel}}
@@ -14,6 +16,9 @@ import javax.validation.constraints.*;
 {{#performBeanValidation}}
 import org.hibernate.validator.constraints.*;
 {{/performBeanValidation}}
+{{#useOptional}}
+import java.util.Optional;
+{{/useOptional}}
 {{#jackson}}
 {{#withXml}}
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.annotation.JacksonXmlRootElement;
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/nullableDefaultValue.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/nullableDefaultValue.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..01f8e2b1131e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/nullableDefaultValue.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{#isNullable}} = JsonNullable.undefined(){{/isNullable}}{{^isNullable}}{{#defaultValue}} = {{{.}}}{{/defaultValue}}{{/isNullable}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalBeanValidation.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalBeanValidation.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8a2d2337ca7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalBeanValidation.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{^isContainer}}{{^isPrimitiveType}}@Valid {{/isPrimitiveType}}{{/isContainer}}{{>beanValidationCore}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalDataTypeGetter.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalDataTypeGetter.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cacb6acd2143
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalDataTypeGetter.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{#isContainer}}{{{datatypeWithEnum}}}{{/isContainer}}{{^isContainer}}{{#required}}{{{dataType}}}{{/required}}{{^required}}{{#useBeanValidation}}Optional<{{>optionalBeanValidation}}{{{dataType}}}>{{/useBeanValidation}}{{^useBeanValidation}}Optional<{{{dataType}}}>{{/useBeanValidation}}{{/required}}{{/isContainer}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalDefaultValue.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalDefaultValue.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a110b11a6d7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalDefaultValue.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{^isContainer}}{{^required}} = Optional.empty(){{/required}}{{/isContainer}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalPojoDataType.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalPojoDataType.mustache
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..206ffcc571f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/optionalPojoDataType.mustache
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{{#isContainer}}{{{datatypeWithEnum}}}{{/isContainer}}{{^isContainer}}{{>optionalDataType}}{{/isContainer}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/pojo.mustache b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/pojo.mustache
index 29c35fbc1d73..456474d3039e 100644
--- a/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/pojo.mustache
+++ b/modules/openapi-generator/src/main/resources/JavaSpring/pojo.mustache
@@ -28,15 +28,15 @@ public class {{classname}} {{#parent}}extends {{{parent}}}{{/parent}}{{^parent}}
   {{/gson}}
   {{#isContainer}}
   {{#useBeanValidation}}@Valid{{/useBeanValidation}}
-  private {{>nullableDataType}} {{name}} = {{#isNullable}}JsonNullable.undefined(){{/isNullable}}{{^isNullable}}{{#required}}{{{defaultValue}}}{{/required}}{{^required}}null{{/required}}{{/isNullable}};
+  private {{>dataTypePojo}} {{name}} = {{#isNullable}}JsonNullable.undefined(){{/isNullable}}{{^isNullable}}{{#required}}{{{defaultValue}}}{{/required}}{{^required}}null{{/required}}{{/isNullable}};
   {{/isContainer}}
   {{^isContainer}}
-  private {{>nullableDataType}} {{name}}{{#isNullable}} = JsonNullable.undefined(){{/isNullable}}{{^isNullable}}{{#defaultValue}} = {{{.}}}{{/defaultValue}}{{/isNullable}};
+  private {{>dataTypePojo}} {{name}}{{>defaultValuePojo}};
   {{/isContainer}}
 
   {{/vars}}
   {{#vars}}
-  public {{classname}} {{name}}({{{datatypeWithEnum}}} {{name}}) {
+  public {{classname}} {{name}}({{>dataTypePojo}} {{name}}) {
     this.{{name}} = {{#isNullable}}JsonNullable.of({{name}}){{/isNullable}}{{^isNullable}}{{name}}{{/isNullable}};
     return this;
   }
@@ -84,11 +84,11 @@ public class {{classname}} {{#parent}}extends {{{parent}}}{{/parent}}{{^parent}}
   {{{vendorExtensions.extraAnnotation}}}
   {{/vendorExtensions.extraAnnotation}}
   @ApiModelProperty({{#example}}example = "{{{example}}}", {{/example}}{{#required}}required = {{required}}, {{/required}}{{#isReadOnly}}readOnly = {{{isReadOnly}}}, {{/isReadOnly}}value = "{{{description}}}")
-{{#useBeanValidation}}{{>beanValidation}}{{/useBeanValidation}}  public {{>nullableDataType}} {{getter}}() {
+{{#useBeanValidation}}{{#useOptional}}{{#required}}{{>beanValidation}}{{/required}}{{/useOptional}}{{/useBeanValidation}}{{#useBeanValidation}}{{^useOptional}}{{>beanValidation}}{{/useOptional}}{{/useBeanValidation}}  public {{>dataTypeGetter}} {{getter}}() {
     return {{name}};
   }
 
-  public void {{setter}}({{>nullableDataType}} {{name}}) {
+  public void {{setter}}({{>dataTypePojo}} {{name}}) {
     this.{{name}} = {{name}};
   }