diff --git a/corporate/tests/test_stripe.py b/corporate/tests/test_stripe.py
index c8bbcd7274..79309ca297 100644
--- a/corporate/tests/test_stripe.py
+++ b/corporate/tests/test_stripe.py
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ import sys
 from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, List, Optional, TypeVar, Tuple, cast
 import ujson
 import json
+import responses
 
 from django.core import signing
 from django.urls.resolvers import get_resolver
 from django.http import HttpResponse
 from django.utils.timezone import utc as timezone_utc
+from django.conf import settings
 
 import stripe
 
@@ -35,7 +37,6 @@ from corporate.models import Customer, CustomerPlan, LicenseLedger
 
 CallableT = TypeVar('CallableT', bound=Callable[..., Any])
 
-GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES = False
 STRIPE_FIXTURES_DIR = "corporate/tests/stripe_fixtures"
 
 # TODO: check that this creates a token similar to what is created by our
@@ -77,8 +78,10 @@ def generate_and_save_stripe_fixture(decorated_function_name: str, mocked_functi
         mock = operator.attrgetter(mocked_function_name)(sys.modules[__name__])
         fixture_path = stripe_fixture_path(decorated_function_name, mocked_function_name, mock.call_count)
         try:
-            # Talk to Stripe
-            stripe_object = mocked_function(*args, **kwargs)
+            with responses.RequestsMock() as request_mock:
+                request_mock.add_passthru("https://api.stripe.com")
+                # Talk to Stripe
+                stripe_object = mocked_function(*args, **kwargs)
         except stripe.error.StripeError as e:
             with open(fixture_path, 'w') as f:
                 error_dict = e.__dict__
@@ -183,7 +186,7 @@ def mock_stripe(tested_timestamp_fields: List[str]=[],
     def _mock_stripe(decorated_function: CallableT) -> CallableT:
         generate_fixture = generate
         if generate_fixture is None:
-            generate_fixture = GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES
+            generate_fixture = settings.GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES
         for mocked_function_name in MOCKED_STRIPE_FUNCTION_NAMES:
             mocked_function = operator.attrgetter(mocked_function_name)(sys.modules[__name__])
             if generate_fixture:
diff --git a/docs/subsystems/billing.md b/docs/subsystems/billing.md
index a2e61ced0a..1d9c743e10 100644
--- a/docs/subsystems/billing.md
+++ b/docs/subsystems/billing.md
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ Stripe makes pretty regular updates to their API. The process for upgrading
 our code is:
 * Go to <https://dashboard.stripe.com/developers> in your Stripe account.
 * Upgrade the API version.
-* Set `GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES = True` in `test_stripe.py`.
-* Run `tools/test-backend corporate/tests/test_stripe.py`
+* Run `tools/test-backend --generate-stripe-fixtures`
 * Fix any failing tests, and manually look through `git diff` to understand
   the changes.
 * If there are no material changes, commit the diff, and open a PR.
diff --git a/tools/test-backend b/tools/test-backend
index f4210b1566..e9bf749d87 100755
--- a/tools/test-backend
+++ b/tools/test-backend
@@ -259,6 +259,10 @@ def main() -> None:
                         action="store_true",
                         default=False,
                         help=("Include webhook tests.  By default, they are skipped for performance."))
+    parser.add_argument('--generate-stripe-fixtures', dest="generate_stripe_fixtures",
+                        action="store_true",
+                        default=False,
+                        help=("Generate Stripe test fixtures by making requests to Stripe test network"))
     parser.add_argument('args', nargs='*')
 
     options = parser.parse_args()
@@ -344,6 +348,14 @@ def main() -> None:
     if full_suite and include_webhooks:
         suites.append("zerver.webhooks")
 
+    if options.generate_stripe_fixtures:
+        if full_suite:
+            suites = [
+                "corporate.tests.test_stripe",
+            ]
+            full_suite = False
+        os.environ["GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES"] = "1"
+
     assert_provisioning_status_ok(options.force)
 
     if options.coverage:
diff --git a/zproject/settings.py b/zproject/settings.py
index 787c365a26..90b6ae11d6 100644
--- a/zproject/settings.py
+++ b/zproject/settings.py
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ TUTORIAL_ENABLED = True
 CASPER_TESTS = False
 # This is overridden in test_settings.py for the test suites
 RUNNING_OPENAPI_CURL_TEST = False
+# This is overridden in test_settings.py for the test suites
+GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES = False
 
 # Google Compute Engine has an /etc/boto.cfg that is "nicely
 # configured" to work with GCE's storage service.  However, their
diff --git a/zproject/test_settings.py b/zproject/test_settings.py
index 45fdb58004..8d8d086c3c 100644
--- a/zproject/test_settings.py
+++ b/zproject/test_settings.py
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ if "CASPER_TESTS" in os.environ:
 if "RUNNING_OPENAPI_CURL_TEST" in os.environ:
     RUNNING_OPENAPI_CURL_TEST = True
 
+if "GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES" in os.environ:
+    GENERATE_STRIPE_FIXTURES = True
+
 # Decrease the get_updates timeout to 1 second.
 # This allows CasperJS to proceed quickly to the next test step.
 POLL_TIMEOUT = 1000