diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/4040-linode-token-templating.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/4040-linode-token-templating.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..691d7634a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/4040-linode-token-templating.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - linode inventory plugin - allow templating of ``access_token`` variable in Linode inventory plugin (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/4040).
diff --git a/plugins/inventory/linode.py b/plugins/inventory/linode.py
index 4bbd79a303..dc6accb799 100644
--- a/plugins/inventory/linode.py
+++ b/plugins/inventory/linode.py
@@ -66,6 +66,12 @@ EXAMPLES = r'''
 # Minimal example. `LINODE_ACCESS_TOKEN` is exposed in environment.
 plugin: community.general.linode
 
+# You can use Jinja to template the access token.
+plugin: community.general.linode
+access_token: "{{ lookup('ini', 'token', section='your_username', file='~/.config/linode-cli') }}"
+# For older Ansible versions, you need to write this as:
+# access_token: "{{ lookup('ini', 'token section=your_username file=~/.config/linode-cli') }}"
+
 # Example with regions, types, groups and access token
 plugin: community.general.linode
 access_token: foobar
@@ -105,6 +111,7 @@ import os
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleParserError
 from ansible.module_utils.six import string_types
 from ansible.plugins.inventory import BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable
+from ansible.template import Templar
 
 
 try:
@@ -119,10 +126,14 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable):
 
     NAME = 'community.general.linode'
 
-    def _build_client(self):
+    def _build_client(self, loader):
         """Build the Linode client."""
 
+        t = Templar(loader=loader)
+
         access_token = self.get_option('access_token')
+        if t.is_template(access_token):
+            access_token = t.template(variable=access_token, disable_lookups=False)
 
         if access_token is None:
             try:
@@ -287,7 +298,7 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable):
             raise AnsibleError('the Linode dynamic inventory plugin requires linode_api4.')
 
         config_data = self._read_config_data(path)
-        self._build_client()
+        self._build_client(loader)
 
         self._get_instances_inventory()
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/plugins/inventory/test_linode.py b/tests/unit/plugins/inventory/test_linode.py
index 501f95b1f2..90a89d8959 100644
--- a/tests/unit/plugins/inventory/test_linode.py
+++ b/tests/unit/plugins/inventory/test_linode.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ mandatory_py_version = pytest.mark.skipif(
 
 
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleParserError
+from ansible.parsing.dataloader import DataLoader
 from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.inventory.linode import InventoryModule
 
 
@@ -39,10 +40,11 @@ def inventory():
     return InventoryModule()
 
 
-def test_access_token_lookup(inventory):
+def test_missing_access_token_lookup(inventory):
+    loader = DataLoader()
     inventory._options = {'access_token': None}
     with pytest.raises(AnsibleError) as error_message:
-        inventory._build_client()
+        inventory._build_client(loader)
         assert 'Could not retrieve Linode access token' in error_message