diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 93be374d14..d0f259b754 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-2024-05-12 - V5.3.5-rc1
+2024-05-12 - V5.4.0-rc1
 * Build fixes, code refactoring and other smaller changes.
 * Fix grey result of indexed PNG in pdfrenderer.
 * Rename frk -> deu_latf (ISO 639-3, ISO 15924).
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 8f0ef386b1..38ae141514 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-5.3.5-rc1
+5.4.0-rc1