diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 44dc23f5..29dd4bfe 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: pkgload
 Title: Simulate Package Installation and Attach
-Version: 1.2.0.9000
+Version: 1.2.1
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Hadley", "Wickham", role = "aut"),
     person("Jim", "Hester", , "jim.hester@rstudio.com", role = c("aut", "cre")),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index df0b2f12..b706b03f 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# pkgload (development version)
+# pkgload 1.2.1
 
 * `unload()` no longer unregisters methods for generics of the package being unloaded. This way dangling references to generics defined in the stale namespace still work as expected (r-lib/vctrs#1341).
 * `load_all()` will now work for packages that have testthat tests but do not have testthat installed (#151)