diff --git a/tools/run-mypy b/tools/run-mypy
index 37dd805630..153bf51358 100755
--- a/tools/run-mypy
+++ b/tools/run-mypy
@@ -3,10 +3,12 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 import os
+from os.path import dirname, abspath
 import sys
 import lister
 import argparse
 import subprocess
+import six
 
 exclude="""
 api/integrations/
@@ -45,13 +47,24 @@ if args.all:
 python_files = lister.list_files(targets=args.targets, ftypes=['py'], use_shebang=False,
                                  modified_only=args.modified, exclude=exclude)
 
+# Use zulip-py3-venv's mypy if it's available and we're on python 2
+PY3_VENV_DIR = "/srv/zulip-py3-venv"
+MYPY_VENV_PATH = os.path.join(PY3_VENV_DIR, "bin", "mypy")
+if six.PY2 and os.path.exists(MYPY_VENV_PATH):
+    mypy_command = MYPY_VENV_PATH
+    print("Using mypy from", mypy_command)
+else:
+    mypy_command = "mypy"
+
 if python_files:
-    rc = subprocess.call(["mypy", "--silent", "--py2", "--check-untyped-defs"] + python_files)
+    rc = subprocess.call([mypy_command, "--silent", "--py2", "--check-untyped-defs"] + python_files)
     if not rc:
         print("The mypy static type checker for python detected no errors!")
     else:
         print("\nThe mypy static type checker for Python threw some errors,")
         print("which indicates a bug in your code or incorrect type annotations.")
+        print("Please see docs/mypy.md for details on how Zulip is using mypy")
+        print("to find bugs and how to debug the issue.")
     sys.exit(rc)
 else:
     print("There are no files to run mypy on.")