diff --git a/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/skybox/mod.rs b/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/skybox/mod.rs
index d2f1abb1830aa..a1f47805fe8f4 100644
--- a/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/skybox/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/bevy_core_pipeline/src/skybox/mod.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ use bevy_ecs::{
 };
 use bevy_image::BevyDefault;
 use bevy_light::Skybox;
+use bevy_log::warn_once;
 use bevy_math::Mat4;
 use bevy_render::{
     extract_component::{ComponentUniforms, DynamicUniformIndex, UniformComponentPlugin},
@@ -227,17 +228,37 @@ fn prepare_skybox_bind_groups(
     views: Query<(Entity, &Skybox, &DynamicUniformIndex<SkyboxUniforms>)>,
 ) {
     for (entity, skybox, skybox_uniform_index) in &views {
-        if let (Some(skybox), Some(view_uniforms), Some(skybox_uniforms)) = (
+        if let (Some(skybox_image), Some(view_uniforms), Some(skybox_uniforms)) = (
             images.get(&skybox.image),
             view_uniforms.uniforms.binding(),
             skybox_uniforms.binding(),
         ) {
+            let texture_view_dimension: Option<TextureViewDimension> = skybox_image
+                .texture_view_descriptor
+                .as_ref()
+                .and_then(|desc| desc.dimension);
+            if texture_view_dimension != Some(TextureViewDimension::Cube) {
+                // The texture view is not a cubemap and will fail validation if rendered.
+                // In this case, we ignore the skybox so as not to break rendering.
+                //
+                // There are other possible misconfigurations which will fail and which we do not
+                // catch here, but this is a common mistake (passing a 2D image to `Skybox`) and
+                // also the result of `Skybox::default()` and not overriding the `image`.
+                warn_once!(
+                    "skybox {entity}'s image {image:?} has texture view dimension \
+                        {texture_view_dimension:?}, but it must be TextureViewDimension::Cube \
+                        to render a skybox",
+                    image = skybox.image
+                );
+                continue;
+            }
+
             let bind_group = render_device.create_bind_group(
                 "skybox_bind_group",
                 &pipeline_cache.get_bind_group_layout(&pipeline.bind_group_layout),
                 &BindGroupEntries::sequential((
-                    &skybox.texture_view,
-                    &skybox.sampler,
+                    &skybox_image.texture_view,
+                    &skybox_image.sampler,
                     view_uniforms,
                     skybox_uniforms,
                 )),