diff --git a/fastapi/openapi/utils.py b/fastapi/openapi/utils.py
index 1c7a17c4ca..6d67d451b0 100644
--- a/fastapi/openapi/utils.py
+++ b/fastapi/openapi/utils.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import copy
 import http.client
 import inspect
 import warnings
-from collections.abc import Sequence
+from collections.abc import Iterable, Sequence
 from typing import Any, Literal, cast
 
 from fastapi import routing
@@ -603,4 +603,51 @@ def get_openapi(
         output["tags"] = tags
     if external_docs:
         output["externalDocs"] = external_docs
-    return jsonable_encoder(OpenAPI(**output), by_alias=True, exclude_none=True)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]
+    # Collect user-provided `example` / `examples` values from the pre-encoded
+    # `output` so we can restore them after the final encode below. The final
+    # `exclude_none=True` pass would otherwise strip `null` values from
+    # inside those user examples, where `null` may be a legitimate documented
+    # value (see e.g. github discussion #8401, issue #5559).
+    example_entries = list(_collect_example_paths(output))
+    encoded = jsonable_encoder(OpenAPI(**output), by_alias=True, exclude_none=True)
+    for example_path, value in example_entries:
+        preserved = jsonable_encoder(value, by_alias=True)
+        _set_path(encoded, example_path, preserved)
+    return cast(dict[str, Any], encoded)
+
+
+_EXAMPLE_KEYS = frozenset({"example", "examples"})
+
+
+def _collect_example_paths(
+    obj: Any, path: tuple[Any, ...] = ()
+) -> "Iterable[tuple[tuple[Any, ...], Any]]":
+    """Yield `(path, value)` for every non-None `example` / `examples` value
+    in `obj`. `None`-valued keys are skipped — they come from FastAPI's
+    internal defaults (the OpenAPI Pydantic model has `example: Any = None`)
+    rather than the user, and re-attaching them would surface spurious
+    `"example": null` entries the historical strip pass hid. Subtrees under
+    these keys are treated as opaque user data and not recursed into."""
+    if isinstance(obj, dict):
+        for key, value in obj.items():
+            if key in _EXAMPLE_KEYS:
+                if value is not None:
+                    yield (*path, key), value
+            else:
+                yield from _collect_example_paths(value, (*path, key))
+    elif isinstance(obj, list):
+        for i, item in enumerate(obj):
+            yield from _collect_example_paths(item, (*path, i))
+
+
+def _set_path(obj: Any, path: tuple[Any, ...], value: Any) -> None:
+    """Set `obj[path] = value`, creating intermediate dicts if the path was
+    stripped during the `exclude_none=True` encode."""
+    for key in path[:-1]:
+        if isinstance(obj, list):
+            obj = obj[key]
+            continue
+        if key not in obj:
+            obj[key] = {}
+        obj = obj[key]
+    obj[path[-1]] = value
diff --git a/tests/test_openapi_examples.py b/tests/test_openapi_examples.py
index e27dd2be08..be81530e59 100644
--- a/tests/test_openapi_examples.py
+++ b/tests/test_openapi_examples.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from typing import Annotated
+
 from fastapi import Body, Cookie, FastAPI, Header, Path, Query
 from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
 from inline_snapshot import snapshot
@@ -420,3 +422,96 @@ def test_openapi_schema():
             },
         }
     )
+
+
+# Tests for the "null values discarded from OpenAPI examples" bug
+# (see github discussions #8401, #12048 and issue #5559). The historical
+# `exclude_none=True` pass at the end of `get_openapi` was stripping `null`
+# values from inside user-provided `example` / `examples`, where `null` may
+# be a legitimate documented value.
+
+_null_app = FastAPI()
+
+
+@_null_app.get(
+    "/r1",
+    responses={
+        200: {
+            "content": {
+                "application/json": {"example": {"absent": None, "present": "value"}}
+            }
+        }
+    },
+)
+def _r1() -> dict:
+    return {}
+
+
+@_null_app.get(
+    "/r2",
+    responses={
+        200: {
+            "content": {
+                "application/json": {
+                    "examples": {
+                        "with_null": {
+                            "summary": "has null",
+                            "value": {"a": None, "b": 1},
+                        },
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    },
+)
+def _r2() -> dict:
+    return {}
+
+
+@_null_app.get("/r3")
+def _r3(
+    q: Annotated[
+        str | None,
+        Query(examples={"nil": {"value": None}, "val": {"value": "x"}}),
+    ] = None,
+) -> dict:
+    return {}
+
+
+def test_null_preserved_in_response_example():
+    schema = _null_app.openapi()
+    example = schema["paths"]["/r1"]["get"]["responses"]["200"]["content"][
+        "application/json"
+    ]["example"]
+    assert example == {"absent": None, "present": "value"}
+
+
+def test_null_preserved_in_response_examples_plural():
+    schema = _null_app.openapi()
+    examples = schema["paths"]["/r2"]["get"]["responses"]["200"]["content"][
+        "application/json"
+    ]["examples"]
+    assert examples["with_null"]["value"] == {"a": None, "b": 1}
+
+
+def test_null_preserved_in_parameter_examples():
+    schema = _null_app.openapi()
+    param = schema["paths"]["/r3"]["get"]["parameters"][0]
+    examples = param["schema"]["examples"]
+    assert examples["nil"]["value"] is None
+    assert examples["val"]["value"] == "x"
+
+
+def test_unrelated_none_fields_still_stripped():
+    """Regression: only `null`s inside `example` / `examples` are preserved.
+    Other internal `None` defaults (e.g. unset `summary`, `description`,
+    Pydantic-default `example: None` on parameter dicts) must still be
+    stripped, as the historical behavior."""
+    schema = _null_app.openapi()
+    # No parameter should carry a stray `example: null` from internal defaults.
+    for path_item in schema["paths"].values():
+        for op in path_item.values():
+            if not isinstance(op, dict):
+                continue
+            for parameter in op.get("parameters", []):
+                assert "example" not in parameter or parameter["example"] is not None