diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 24d35cb1e67f..92bf54c672c6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Ensure third-party plugins with `exports` in their `package.json` are resolved correctly ([#14775](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/14775))
 - Ensure underscores in the `url()` function are never unescaped ([#14776](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/14776))
 - _Upgrade (experimental)_: Ensure `@import` statements for relative CSS files are actually migrated to use relative path syntax ([#14769](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/14769))
+- _Upgrade (experimental)_: Ensure that CSS variable access when migrating arbitrary candidates that reference theme values with dots in the key path do not require escaping (e.g. `m-[var(--spacing-1_5)]`) ([#14778](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/14778))
 
 ## [4.0.0-alpha.29] - 2024-10-23
 
diff --git a/integrations/upgrade/index.test.ts b/integrations/upgrade/index.test.ts
index 83d1bc89e860..56767178606a 100644
--- a/integrations/upgrade/index.test.ts
+++ b/integrations/upgrade/index.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { expect } from 'vitest'
-import { css, html, js, json, test } from '../utils'
+import { candidate, css, html, js, json, test } from '../utils'
 
 test(
   `upgrades a v3 project to v4`,
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ test(
         {
           "dependencies": {
             "@tailwindcss/upgrade": "workspace:^"
+          },
+          "devDependencies": {
+            "@tailwindcss/cli": "workspace:^"
           }
         }
       `,
@@ -20,7 +23,9 @@ test(
       `,
       'src/index.html': html`
         <h1>🤠👋</h1>
-        <div class="!flex sm:!block bg-gradient-to-t bg-[--my-red] max-w-screen-md"></div>
+        <div
+          class="!flex sm:!block bg-gradient-to-t bg-[--my-red] max-w-screen-md ml-[theme(spacing[1.5])]"
+        ></div>
       `,
       'src/input.css': css`
         @tailwind base;
@@ -42,7 +47,9 @@ test(
       "
       --- ./src/index.html ---
       <h1>🤠👋</h1>
-      <div class="flex! sm:block! bg-linear-to-t bg-[var(--my-red)] max-w-[var(--breakpoint-md)]"></div>
+      <div
+        class="flex! sm:block! bg-linear-to-t bg-[var(--my-red)] max-w-[var(--breakpoint-md)] ml-[var(--spacing-1_5)]"
+      ></div>
 
       --- ./src/input.css ---
       @import 'tailwindcss';
@@ -92,6 +99,18 @@ test(
     expect(packageJson.dependencies).toMatchObject({
       tailwindcss: expect.stringContaining('4.0.0'),
     })
+
+    // Ensure the v4 project compiles correctly
+    await exec('npx tailwindcss --input src/input.css --output dist/out.css')
+
+    await fs.expectFileToContain('dist/out.css', [
+      candidate`flex!`,
+      candidate`sm:block!`,
+      candidate`bg-linear-to-t`,
+      candidate`bg-[var(--my-red)]`,
+      candidate`max-w-[var(--breakpoint-md)]`,
+      candidate`ml-[var(--spacing-1\_5)`,
+    ])
   },
 )
 
diff --git a/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.test.ts b/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.test.ts
index 296a5cc5e8d5..4c310fe6f815 100644
--- a/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.test.ts
@@ -118,6 +118,13 @@ const candidates = [
   // Keep spaces in strings
   ['content-["hello_world"]', 'content-["hello_world"]'],
   ['content-[____"hello_world"___]', 'content-["hello_world"]'],
+
+  // Do not escape underscores for url() and CSS variable in var()
+  ['bg-[no-repeat_url(/image_13.png)]', 'bg-[no-repeat_url(/image_13.png)]'],
+  [
+    'bg-[var(--spacing-0_5,_var(--spacing-1_5,_3rem))]',
+    'bg-[var(--spacing-0_5,_var(--spacing-1_5,_3rem))]',
+  ],
 ]
 
 const variants = [
diff --git a/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.ts b/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.ts
index b97ff8ed04ab..e71fa462ed8c 100644
--- a/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.ts
+++ b/packages/@tailwindcss-upgrade/src/template/candidates.ts
@@ -187,9 +187,9 @@ function printArbitraryValue(input: string) {
     })
   }
 
+  recursivelyEscapeUnderscores(ast)
+
   return ValueParser.toCss(ast)
-    .replaceAll('_', String.raw`\_`) // Escape underscores to keep them as-is
-    .replaceAll(' ', '_') // Replace spaces with underscores
 }
 
 function simplifyArbitraryVariant(input: string) {
@@ -213,3 +213,51 @@ function simplifyArbitraryVariant(input: string) {
 
   return input
 }
+
+function recursivelyEscapeUnderscores(ast: ValueParser.ValueAstNode[]) {
+  for (let node of ast) {
+    switch (node.kind) {
+      case 'function': {
+        if (node.value === 'url' || node.value.endsWith('_url')) {
+          // Don't decode underscores in url() but do decode the function name
+          node.value = escapeUnderscore(node.value)
+          break
+        }
+
+        if (node.value === 'var' || node.value.endsWith('_var')) {
+          // Don't decode underscores in the first argument of var() but do
+          // decode the function name
+          node.value = escapeUnderscore(node.value)
+          for (let i = 0; i < node.nodes.length; i++) {
+            if (i == 0 && node.nodes[i].kind === 'word') {
+              continue
+            }
+            recursivelyEscapeUnderscores([node.nodes[i]])
+          }
+          break
+        }
+
+        node.value = escapeUnderscore(node.value)
+        recursivelyEscapeUnderscores(node.nodes)
+        break
+      }
+      case 'separator':
+      case 'word': {
+        node.value = escapeUnderscore(node.value)
+        break
+      }
+      default:
+        never()
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+function never(): never {
+  throw new Error('This should never happen')
+}
+
+function escapeUnderscore(value: string): string {
+  return value
+    .replaceAll('_', String.raw`\_`) // Escape underscores to keep them as-is
+    .replaceAll(' ', '_') // Replace spaces with underscores
+}