diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 29b20fd25a6..074bef81184 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@
 - Fix bug in auth emulator in which createdAt was not set for signInWithIdp new users. (#5203)
 - Default to --no-localhost when calling login from Google Cloud Workstations
 - Support the x-goog-api-key header in auth emulator. (#5249)
+- Fix bug where function deployments using --only filter sometimes failed deployments. (#5280)
diff --git a/src/deploy/functions/deploy.ts b/src/deploy/functions/deploy.ts
index a432dc4caa5..ecdc7b68050 100644
--- a/src/deploy/functions/deploy.ts
+++ b/src/deploy/functions/deploy.ts
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ export async function deploy(
   await checkHttpIam(context, options, payload);
   const uploads: Promise<void>[] = [];
   for (const [codebase, { wantBackend, haveBackend }] of Object.entries(payload.functions)) {
-    if (shouldUploadBeSkipped(wantBackend, haveBackend)) {
+    if (shouldUploadBeSkipped(context, wantBackend, haveBackend)) {
       continue;
     }
     uploads.push(uploadCodebase(context, codebase, wantBackend));
@@ -124,9 +124,15 @@ export async function deploy(
  * @return True IFF wantBackend + haveBackend are the same
  */
 export function shouldUploadBeSkipped(
+  context: args.Context,
   wantBackend: backend.Backend,
   haveBackend: backend.Backend
 ): boolean {
+  // If function targets are specified by --only flag, assume that function will be deployed
+  // and go ahead and upload the source.
+  if (context.filters && context.filters.length > 0) {
+    return false;
+  }
   const wantEndpoints = backend.allEndpoints(wantBackend);
   const haveEndpoints = backend.allEndpoints(haveBackend);
 
diff --git a/src/test/deploy/functions/deploy.spec.ts b/src/test/deploy/functions/deploy.spec.ts
index 78e3ab5feaa..1fb4e103090 100644
--- a/src/test/deploy/functions/deploy.spec.ts
+++ b/src/test/deploy/functions/deploy.spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { expect } from "chai";
 
+import * as args from "../../../deploy/functions/args";
 import * as backend from "../../../deploy/functions/backend";
 import * as deploy from "../../../deploy/functions/deploy";
 
@@ -17,6 +18,11 @@ describe("deploy", () => {
     ...ENDPOINT_BASE,
     httpsTrigger: {},
   };
+
+  const CONTEXT: args.Context = {
+    projectId: "project",
+  };
+
   describe("shouldUploadBeSkipped", () => {
     let endpoint1InWantBackend: backend.Endpoint;
     let endpoint2InWantBackend: backend.Endpoint;
@@ -63,7 +69,7 @@ describe("deploy", () => {
       endpoint2InHaveBackend.hash = endpoint2InWantBackend.hash;
 
       // Execute
-      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(wantBackend, haveBackend);
+      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(CONTEXT, wantBackend, haveBackend);
 
       // Expect
       expect(result).to.be.true;
@@ -76,7 +82,7 @@ describe("deploy", () => {
       endpoint2InHaveBackend.hash = "No_match";
 
       // Execute
-      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(wantBackend, haveBackend);
+      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(CONTEXT, wantBackend, haveBackend);
 
       // Expect
       expect(result).to.be.false;
@@ -92,7 +98,7 @@ describe("deploy", () => {
       haveBackend = backend.of(endpoint1InHaveBackend);
 
       // Execute
-      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(wantBackend, haveBackend);
+      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(CONTEXT, wantBackend, haveBackend);
 
       // Expect
       expect(result).to.be.false;
@@ -108,7 +114,24 @@ describe("deploy", () => {
       haveBackend = backend.of(endpoint1InHaveBackend, endpoint2InHaveBackend);
 
       // Execute
-      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(wantBackend, haveBackend);
+      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(CONTEXT, wantBackend, haveBackend);
+
+      // Expect
+      expect(result).to.be.false;
+    });
+
+    it("should not skip if endpoint filter is specified", () => {
+      endpoint1InWantBackend.hash = "1";
+      endpoint2InWantBackend.hash = "2";
+      endpoint1InHaveBackend.hash = endpoint1InWantBackend.hash;
+      endpoint2InHaveBackend.hash = endpoint2InWantBackend.hash;
+
+      // Execute
+      const result = deploy.shouldUploadBeSkipped(
+        { ...CONTEXT, filters: [{ idChunks: ["foobar"] }] },
+        wantBackend,
+        haveBackend
+      );
 
       // Expect
       expect(result).to.be.false;