diff --git a/core/src/subgraph/context/mod.rs b/core/src/subgraph/context/mod.rs
index df0666a4f6a..ea42d2ff503 100644
--- a/core/src/subgraph/context/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/subgraph/context/mod.rs
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ impl SubgraphKeepAlive {
             self.sg_metrics.running_count.inc();
         }
     }
+
+    pub fn contains(&self, deployment_id: &DeploymentId) -> bool {
+        self.alive_map.read().unwrap().contains_key(deployment_id)
+    }
 }
 
 // The context keeps track of mutable in-memory state that is retained across blocks.
diff --git a/core/src/subgraph/instance_manager.rs b/core/src/subgraph/instance_manager.rs
index aba94ec2d3a..b255e9b3a0b 100644
--- a/core/src/subgraph/instance_manager.rs
+++ b/core/src/subgraph/instance_manager.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+use std::sync::atomic::AtomicU64;
+use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
+
 use crate::polling_monitor::{ArweaveService, IpfsService};
 use crate::subgraph::context::{IndexingContext, SubgraphKeepAlive};
 use crate::subgraph::inputs::IndexingInputs;
@@ -22,6 +25,7 @@ use tokio::task;
 
 use super::context::OffchainMonitor;
 use super::SubgraphTriggerProcessor;
+use crate::subgraph::runner::SubgraphRunnerError;
 
 #[derive(Clone)]
 pub struct SubgraphInstanceManager<S: SubgraphStore> {
@@ -35,6 +39,18 @@ pub struct SubgraphInstanceManager<S: SubgraphStore> {
     arweave_service: ArweaveService,
     static_filters: bool,
     env_vars: Arc<EnvVars>,
+
+    /// By design, there should be only one subgraph runner process per subgraph, but the current
+    /// implementation does not completely prevent multiple runners from being active at the same
+    /// time, and we have already had a [bug][0] due to this limitation. Investigating the problem
+    /// was quite complicated because there was no way to know that the logs were coming from two
+    /// different processes because all the logs looked the same. Ideally, the implementation
+    /// should be refactored to make it more strict, but until then, we keep this counter, which
+    /// is incremented each time a new runner is started, and the previous count is embedded in
+    /// each log of the started runner, to make debugging future issues easier.
+    ///
+    /// [0]: https://github.com/graphprotocol/graph-node/issues/5452
+    subgraph_start_counter: Arc<AtomicU64>,
 }
 
 #[async_trait]
@@ -45,7 +61,11 @@ impl<S: SubgraphStore> SubgraphInstanceManagerTrait for SubgraphInstanceManager<
         manifest: serde_yaml::Mapping,
         stop_block: Option<BlockNumber>,
     ) {
+        let runner_index = self.subgraph_start_counter.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
+
         let logger = self.logger_factory.subgraph_logger(&loc);
+        let logger = logger.new(o!("runner_index" => runner_index));
+
         let err_logger = logger.clone();
         let instance_manager = self.cheap_clone();
 
@@ -185,6 +205,7 @@ impl<S: SubgraphStore> SubgraphInstanceManager<S> {
             static_filters,
             env_vars,
             arweave_service,
+            subgraph_start_counter: Arc::new(AtomicU64::new(0)),
         }
     }
 
@@ -491,13 +512,18 @@ impl<S: SubgraphStore> SubgraphInstanceManager<S> {
         // it has a dedicated OS thread so the OS will handle the preemption. See
         // https://github.com/tokio-rs/tokio/issues/3493.
         graph::spawn_thread(deployment.to_string(), move || {
-            if let Err(e) = graph::block_on(task::unconstrained(runner.run())) {
-                error!(
-                    &logger,
-                    "Subgraph instance failed to run: {}",
-                    format!("{:#}", e)
-                );
+            match graph::block_on(task::unconstrained(runner.run())) {
+                Ok(()) => {}
+                Err(SubgraphRunnerError::Duplicate) => {
+                    // We do not need to unregister metrics because they are unique per subgraph
+                    // and another runner is still active.
+                    return;
+                }
+                Err(err) => {
+                    error!(&logger, "Subgraph instance failed to run: {:#}", err);
+                }
             }
+
             subgraph_metrics_unregister.unregister(registry);
         });
 
diff --git a/core/src/subgraph/runner.rs b/core/src/subgraph/runner.rs
index 9b81c420ec2..a0269863614 100644
--- a/core/src/subgraph/runner.rs
+++ b/core/src/subgraph/runner.rs
@@ -52,6 +52,15 @@ where
     pub metrics: RunnerMetrics,
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, thiserror::Error)]
+pub enum SubgraphRunnerError {
+    #[error("subgraph runner terminated because a newer one was active")]
+    Duplicate,
+
+    #[error(transparent)]
+    Unknown(#[from] Error),
+}
+
 impl<C, T> SubgraphRunner<C, T>
 where
     C: Blockchain,
@@ -109,7 +118,7 @@ where
 
     #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
     pub async fn run_for_test(self, break_on_restart: bool) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        self.run_inner(break_on_restart).await
+        self.run_inner(break_on_restart).await.map_err(Into::into)
     }
 
     fn is_static_filters_enabled(&self) -> bool {
@@ -166,11 +175,11 @@ where
         self.build_filter()
     }
 
-    pub async fn run(self) -> Result<(), Error> {
+    pub async fn run(self) -> Result<(), SubgraphRunnerError> {
         self.run_inner(false).await.map(|_| ())
     }
 
-    async fn run_inner(mut self, break_on_restart: bool) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+    async fn run_inner(mut self, break_on_restart: bool) -> Result<Self, SubgraphRunnerError> {
         // If a subgraph failed for deterministic reasons, before start indexing, we first
         // revert the deployment head. It should lead to the same result since the error was
         // deterministic.
@@ -246,7 +255,8 @@ where
                 // TODO: move cancel handle to the Context
                 // This will require some code refactor in how the BlockStream is created
                 let block_start = Instant::now();
-                match self
+
+                let action = self
                     .handle_stream_event(event, &block_stream_cancel_handle)
                     .await
                     .map(|res| {
@@ -254,7 +264,30 @@ where
                             .subgraph
                             .observe_block_processed(block_start.elapsed(), res.block_finished());
                         res
-                    })? {
+                    })?;
+
+                // It is possible that the subgraph was unassigned, but the runner was in
+                // a retry delay state and did not observe the cancel signal.
+                if block_stream_cancel_handle.is_canceled() {
+                    // It is also possible that the runner was in a retry delay state while
+                    // the subgraph was reassigned and a new runner was started.
+                    if self.ctx.instances.contains(&self.inputs.deployment.id) {
+                        warn!(
+                            self.logger,
+                            "Terminating the subgraph runner because a newer one is active. \
+                             Possible reassignment detected while the runner was in a non-cancellable pending state",
+                        );
+                        return Err(SubgraphRunnerError::Duplicate);
+                    }
+
+                    warn!(
+                        self.logger,
+                        "Terminating the subgraph runner because subgraph was unassigned",
+                    );
+                    return Ok(self);
+                }
+
+                match action {
                     Action::Continue => continue,
                     Action::Stop => {
                         info!(self.logger, "Stopping subgraph");
@@ -1579,6 +1612,12 @@ where
     }
 }
 
+impl From<StoreError> for SubgraphRunnerError {
+    fn from(err: StoreError) -> Self {
+        Self::Unknown(err.into())
+    }
+}
+
 /// Transform the proof of indexing changes into entity updates that will be
 /// inserted when as_modifications is called.
 async fn update_proof_of_indexing(
diff --git a/store/postgres/src/writable.rs b/store/postgres/src/writable.rs
index 4bcf434b6ec..99ccfd02217 100644
--- a/store/postgres/src/writable.rs
+++ b/store/postgres/src/writable.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ use graph::prelude::{
     SubgraphStore as _, BLOCK_NUMBER_MAX,
 };
 use graph::schema::{EntityKey, EntityType, InputSchema};
-use graph::slog::{info, warn};
+use graph::slog::{debug, info, warn};
 use graph::tokio::select;
 use graph::tokio::sync::Notify;
 use graph::tokio::task::JoinHandle;
@@ -936,6 +936,7 @@ impl Queue {
                         // Graceful shutdown. We also handled the request
                         // successfully
                         queue.queue.pop().await;
+                        debug!(logger, "Subgraph writer has processed a stop request");
                         return;
                     }
                     Ok(Err(e)) => {