diff --git a/homeassistant/helpers/template.py b/homeassistant/helpers/template.py
index 721ac8bd5be..df8b1c1e019 100644
--- a/homeassistant/helpers/template.py
+++ b/homeassistant/helpers/template.py
@@ -2125,6 +2125,10 @@ def to_json(
 
     option = (
         ORJSON_PASSTHROUGH_OPTIONS
+        # OPT_NON_STR_KEYS is added as a workaround to
+        # ensure subclasses of str are allowed as dict keys
+        # See: https://github.com/ijl/orjson/issues/445
+        | orjson.OPT_NON_STR_KEYS
         | (orjson.OPT_INDENT_2 if pretty_print else 0)
         | (orjson.OPT_SORT_KEYS if sort_keys else 0)
     )
diff --git a/tests/helpers/test_template.py b/tests/helpers/test_template.py
index d1294d02f05..58d52dfc395 100644
--- a/tests/helpers/test_template.py
+++ b/tests/helpers/test_template.py
@@ -1233,6 +1233,22 @@ def test_to_json(hass: HomeAssistant) -> None:
     with pytest.raises(TemplateError):
         template.Template("{{ {'Foo': now()} | to_json }}", hass).async_render()
 
+    # Test special case where substring class cannot be rendered
+    # See: https://github.com/ijl/orjson/issues/445
+    class MyStr(str):
+        pass
+
+    expected_result = '{"mykey1":11.0,"mykey2":"myvalue2","mykey3":["opt3b","opt3a"]}'
+    test_dict = {
+        MyStr("mykey2"): "myvalue2",
+        MyStr("mykey1"): 11.0,
+        MyStr("mykey3"): ["opt3b", "opt3a"],
+    }
+    actual_result = template.Template(
+        "{{ test_dict | to_json(sort_keys=True) }}", hass
+    ).async_render(parse_result=False, variables={"test_dict": test_dict})
+    assert actual_result == expected_result
+
 
 def test_to_json_ensure_ascii(hass: HomeAssistant) -> None:
     """Test the object to JSON string filter."""