diff --git a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.spec.ts b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.spec.ts
index 745e8d341..fcee72ffc 100644
--- a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { parseAndInsertWithPayload } from './wrap-next-config'
+import { parseAndInsertWithPayload, withPayloadImportStatement } from './wrap-next-config'
 
 const defaultNextConfig = `/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
 const nextConfig = {};
@@ -30,22 +30,25 @@ export { wrapped as default }
 
 describe('parseAndInsertWithPayload', () => {
   it('should parse the default next config', () => {
-    const modifiedConfig = parseAndInsertWithPayload(defaultNextConfig)
-    expect(modifiedConfig).toMatch(/withPayload\(nextConfig\)/)
+    const { modifiedConfigContent } = parseAndInsertWithPayload(defaultNextConfig)
+    expect(modifiedConfigContent).toContain(withPayloadImportStatement)
+    expect(modifiedConfigContent).toContain('withPayload(nextConfig)')
   })
   it('should parse the config with a function', () => {
-    const modifiedConfig = parseAndInsertWithPayload(nextConfigWithFunc)
-    expect(modifiedConfig).toMatch(/withPayload\(someFunc\(nextConfig\)\)/)
+    const { modifiedConfigContent } = parseAndInsertWithPayload(nextConfigWithFunc)
+    expect(modifiedConfigContent).toContain('withPayload(someFunc(nextConfig))')
   })
 
   it('should parse the config with a function on a new line', () => {
-    const modifiedConfig = parseAndInsertWithPayload(nextConfigWithFuncMultiline)
-    expect(modifiedConfig).toMatch(/withPayload\(someFunc\(\n  nextConfig\n\)\)/)
+    const { modifiedConfigContent } = parseAndInsertWithPayload(nextConfigWithFuncMultiline)
+    expect(modifiedConfigContent).toContain(withPayloadImportStatement)
+    expect(modifiedConfigContent).toMatch(/withPayload\(someFunc\(\n  nextConfig\n\)\)/)
   })
 
   // Unsupported: export { wrapped as default }
   it('should give warning with a named export as default', () => {
-    const modifiedConfig = parseAndInsertWithPayload(nextConfigExportNamedDefault)
-    expect(modifiedConfig).toHaveProperty('error')
+    const { modifiedConfigContent, error } = parseAndInsertWithPayload(nextConfigExportNamedDefault)
+    expect(modifiedConfigContent).toContain(withPayloadImportStatement)
+    expect(error).toBeTruthy()
   })
 })
diff --git a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.ts b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.ts
index d65c74e45..fd9062781 100644
--- a/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.ts
+++ b/packages/create-payload-app/src/lib/wrap-next-config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ import fs from 'fs'
 import globby from 'globby'
 import path from 'path'
 
+export const withPayloadImportStatement = `import { withPayload } from '@payloadcms/next/withPayload'\n`
+
 export const wrapNextConfig = async (args: { projectDir: string }): Promise<void> => {
   const foundConfig = (await globby('next.config.*js', { cwd: args.projectDir }))?.[0]
 
@@ -11,14 +13,18 @@ export const wrapNextConfig = async (args: { projectDir: string }): Promise<void
   }
   const configPath = path.resolve(args.projectDir, foundConfig)
   const configContent = fs.readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8')
-  const newConfig = parseAndInsertWithPayload(configContent)
-  if (typeof newConfig === 'object') {
-    throw new Error(newConfig.error)
+  const { error, modifiedConfigContent: newConfig } = parseAndInsertWithPayload(configContent)
+  if (error) {
+    console.warn(error)
   }
   fs.writeFileSync(configPath, newConfig)
 }
 
-export function parseAndInsertWithPayload(content: string): { error: string } | string {
+export function parseAndInsertWithPayload(content: string): {
+  error?: string
+  modifiedConfigContent: string
+} {
+  content = withPayloadImportStatement + content
   const ast = parseModule(content, { loc: true })
   const exportDefaultDeclaration = ast.body.find((p) => p.type === 'ExportDefaultDeclaration') as
     | Directive
@@ -33,7 +39,11 @@ export function parseAndInsertWithPayload(content: string): { error: string } |
   }
 
   if (exportDefaultDeclaration) {
-    return insertBeforeAndAfter(content, exportDefaultDeclaration.declaration?.loc)
+    const modifiedConfigContent = insertBeforeAndAfter(
+      content,
+      exportDefaultDeclaration.declaration?.loc,
+    )
+    return { modifiedConfigContent }
   } else if (exportNamedDeclaration) {
     const exportSpecifier = exportNamedDeclaration.specifiers.find(
       (s) =>
@@ -48,13 +58,12 @@ export function parseAndInsertWithPayload(content: string): { error: string } |
       return {
         error: `Automatic wrapping of named exports as default not supported yet.
   Please manually wrap your Next config with the withPayload function`,
+        modifiedConfigContent: content,
       }
     }
   } else {
     throw new Error('Could not automatically wrap next.config.js with withPayload')
   }
-
-  return insertBeforeAndAfter(content, exportDefaultDeclaration.declaration?.loc)
 }
 
 type Directive = {