diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/code-generator/kube_codegen.sh b/staging/src/k8s.io/code-generator/kube_codegen.sh
index 6b2ba321e63..f9778bde6c1 100755
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/code-generator/kube_codegen.sh
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/code-generator/kube_codegen.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 KUBE_CODEGEN_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd -P)"
 
+# Callers which want a specific tag of the k8s.io/code-generator repo should
+# set the KUBE_CODEGEN_TAG to the tag name, e.g. KUBE_CODEGEN_TAG="release-1.32"
+# before sourcing this file.
+CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC="${KUBE_CODEGEN_TAG:+"@${KUBE_CODEGEN_TAG}"}"
+
 function kube::codegen::internal::findz() {
     # We use `find` rather than `git ls-files` because sometimes external
     # projects use this across repos.  This is an imperfect wrapper of find,
@@ -103,9 +108,9 @@ function kube::codegen::gen_helpers() {
         # and then install with forced module mode on and fully qualified name.
         cd "${KUBE_CODEGEN_ROOT}"
         BINS=(
-            conversion-gen
-            deepcopy-gen
-            defaulter-gen
+            conversion-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
+            deepcopy-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
+            defaulter-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
         )
         # shellcheck disable=2046 # printf word-splitting is intentional
         GO111MODULE=on go install $(printf "k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/%s " "${BINS[@]}")
@@ -324,7 +329,7 @@ function kube::codegen::gen_openapi() {
         # and then install with forced module mode on and fully qualified name.
         cd "${KUBE_CODEGEN_ROOT}"
         BINS=(
-            openapi-gen
+            openapi-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
         )
         # shellcheck disable=2046 # printf word-splitting is intentional
         GO111MODULE=on go install $(printf "k8s.io/kube-openapi/cmd/%s " "${BINS[@]}")
@@ -554,10 +559,10 @@ function kube::codegen::gen_client() {
         # and then install with forced module mode on and fully qualified name.
         cd "${KUBE_CODEGEN_ROOT}"
         BINS=(
-            applyconfiguration-gen
-            client-gen
-            informer-gen
-            lister-gen
+            applyconfiguration-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
+            client-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
+            informer-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
+            lister-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
         )
         # shellcheck disable=2046 # printf word-splitting is intentional
         GO111MODULE=on go install $(printf "k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/%s " "${BINS[@]}")
@@ -729,7 +734,7 @@ function kube::codegen::gen_register() {
         # and then install with forced module mode on and fully qualified name.
         cd "${KUBE_CODEGEN_ROOT}"
         BINS=(
-            register-gen
+            register-gen"${CODEGEN_VERSION_SPEC}"
         )
         # shellcheck disable=2046 # printf word-splitting is intentional
         GO111MODULE=on go install $(printf "k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/%s " "${BINS[@]}")