diff --git a/django/utils/timesince.py b/django/utils/timesince.py
index b4ae61e4d9..06accab2e0 100644
--- a/django/utils/timesince.py
+++ b/django/utils/timesince.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
+import calendar
 import datetime
 
 from django.utils.html import avoid_wrapping
@@ -40,6 +41,10 @@ def timesince(d, now=None, reversed=False):
         now = datetime.datetime.now(utc if is_aware(d) else None)
 
     delta = (d - now) if reversed else (now - d)
+
+    # Deal with leapyears by subtracing the number of leapdays
+    delta -= datetime.timedelta(calendar.leapdays(d.year, now.year))
+
     # ignore microseconds
     since = delta.days * 24 * 60 * 60 + delta.seconds
     if since <= 0:
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.9.txt b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
index ecd2af6ddc..e06946aaa6 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.9.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
@@ -297,6 +297,9 @@ Templates
   the ability to register libraries and builtins explicitly through the
   template :setting:`OPTIONS <TEMPLATES-OPTIONS>`.
 
+* The ``timesince`` and ``timeuntil`` filters were improved to deal with leap
+  years when given large time spans.
+
 Requests and Responses
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
diff --git a/tests/utils_tests/test_timesince.py b/tests/utils_tests/test_timesince.py
index 90d33d00f7..ea1064f902 100644
--- a/tests/utils_tests/test_timesince.py
+++ b/tests/utils_tests/test_timesince.py
@@ -131,3 +131,7 @@ class TimesinceTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(timesince(future), '0\xa0minutes')
         past = datetime.datetime(1980, 1, 1, tzinfo=naive())
         self.assertEqual(timeuntil(past), '0\xa0minutes')
+
+    def test_thousand_years_ago(self):
+        t = datetime.datetime(1007, 8, 14, 13, 46, 0)
+        self.assertEqual(timesince(t, self.t), '1000\xa0years')