diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 03c88d4ad68..a01d2308eaf 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -53,9 +53,15 @@ usb_host=$(shell yarn run -s discovery find -i 169.254)
 .PHONY: setup
 setup: setup-js setup-py
 
+# Both the python and JS setup targets depend on a minimal python setup so they can create
+# virtual envs using pipenv.
+.PHONY: setup-py-toolchain
+setup-py-toolchain:
+	$(OT_PYTHON) -m pip install pipenv==2023.11.15
+
 # front-end dependecies handled by yarn
 .PHONY: setup-js
-setup-js:
+setup-js: setup-py-toolchain
 	yarn config set network-timeout 60000
 	yarn
 	$(MAKE) -C $(APP_SHELL_DIR) setup
@@ -64,8 +70,7 @@ setup-js:
 PYTHON_SETUP_TARGETS := $(addsuffix -py-setup, $(PYTHON_DIRS))
 
 .PHONY: setup-py
-setup-py:
-	$(OT_PYTHON) -m pip install pipenv==2023.11.15
+setup-py: setup-py-toolchain
 	$(MAKE) $(PYTHON_SETUP_TARGETS)