diff --git a/lib/devtools/src/crewai_devtools/cli.py b/lib/devtools/src/crewai_devtools/cli.py
index 785f943c7..c155026d9 100644
--- a/lib/devtools/src/crewai_devtools/cli.py
+++ b/lib/devtools/src/crewai_devtools/cli.py
@@ -514,6 +514,10 @@ def _pin_crewai_deps(content: str, version: str) -> str:
 def update_template_dependencies(templates_dir: Path, new_version: str) -> list[Path]:
     """Update crewai dependency versions in CLI template pyproject.toml files.
 
+    Uses simple string replacement instead of TOML parsing because
+    template files contain Jinja placeholders (``{{folder_name}}``)
+    that are not valid TOML.
+
     Args:
         templates_dir: Path to the CLI templates directory.
         new_version: New version string.
@@ -521,10 +525,13 @@ def update_template_dependencies(templates_dir: Path, new_version: str) -> list[
     Returns:
         List of paths that were updated.
     """
+    import re
+
+    pattern = re.compile(r"(crewai(?:\[[\w,]+\])?)(?:==|>=)[^\s\"']+")
     updated = []
     for pyproject in templates_dir.rglob("pyproject.toml"):
         content = pyproject.read_text()
-        new_content = _pin_crewai_deps(content, new_version)
+        new_content = pattern.sub(rf"\1=={new_version}", content)
         if new_content != content:
             pyproject.write_text(new_content)
             updated.append(pyproject)
diff --git a/lib/devtools/tests/test_toml_updates.py b/lib/devtools/tests/test_toml_updates.py
index eb93dd235..0a47283a9 100644
--- a/lib/devtools/tests/test_toml_updates.py
+++ b/lib/devtools/tests/test_toml_updates.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ from crewai_devtools.cli import (
     _pin_crewai_deps,
     _repin_crewai_install,
     update_pyproject_version,
+    update_template_dependencies,
 )
 
 
@@ -223,3 +224,51 @@ class TestRepinCrewaiInstall:
     def test_no_version_specifier_unchanged(self) -> None:
         cmd = 'pip install "crewai[tools]>=1.0"'
         assert _repin_crewai_install(cmd, "2.0.0") == cmd
+
+
+# --- update_template_dependencies ---
+
+
+class TestUpdateTemplateDependencies:
+    def test_updates_jinja_template(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        """Template pyproject.toml files with Jinja placeholders should not break."""
+        tpl = tmp_path / "crew" / "pyproject.toml"
+        tpl.parent.mkdir()
+        tpl.write_text(
+            dedent("""\
+            [project]
+            name = "{{folder_name}}"
+            version = "0.1.0"
+            dependencies = [
+                "crewai[tools]==1.14.0"
+            ]
+
+            [project.scripts]
+            {{folder_name}} = "{{folder_name}}.main:run"
+        """)
+        )
+
+        updated = update_template_dependencies(tmp_path, "2.0.0")
+
+        assert len(updated) == 1
+        content = tpl.read_text()
+        assert '"crewai[tools]==2.0.0"' in content
+        assert "{{folder_name}}" in content
+
+    def test_updates_bare_crewai(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        tpl = tmp_path / "pyproject.toml"
+        tpl.write_text('dependencies = [\n    "crewai==1.0.0"\n]\n')
+
+        updated = update_template_dependencies(tmp_path, "3.0.0")
+
+        assert len(updated) == 1
+        assert '"crewai==3.0.0"' in tpl.read_text()
+
+    def test_skips_unrelated_deps(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        tpl = tmp_path / "pyproject.toml"
+        tpl.write_text('dependencies = [\n    "requests>=2.0"\n]\n')
+
+        updated = update_template_dependencies(tmp_path, "2.0.0")
+
+        assert len(updated) == 0
+        assert '"requests>=2.0"' in tpl.read_text()