diff --git a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go
index dbced7b227a..b7ecf823187 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go
@@ -2883,8 +2883,7 @@ func schema_pkg_apis_pipeline_v1beta1_PipelineTaskRunSpec(ref common.ReferenceCa
 					},
 					"metadata": {
 						SchemaProps: spec.SchemaProps{
-							Default: map[string]interface{}{},
-							Ref:     ref("github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1.PipelineTaskMetadata"),
+							Ref: ref("github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1.PipelineTaskMetadata"),
 						},
 					},
 				},
diff --git a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/pipelinerun_types.go b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/pipelinerun_types.go
index c2b0d0cc462..562a9299faf 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/pipelinerun_types.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/pipelinerun_types.go
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ type PipelineTaskRunSpec struct {
 	SidecarOverrides []TaskRunSidecarOverride `json:"sidecarOverrides,omitempty"`
 
 	// +optional
-	Metadata PipelineTaskMetadata `json:"metadata,omitempty"`
+	Metadata *PipelineTaskMetadata `json:"metadata,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // GetTaskRunSpec returns the task specific spec for a given
diff --git a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/swagger.json b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/swagger.json
index b74f3367581..6e7d2c66b2d 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/swagger.json
+++ b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/swagger.json
@@ -1610,7 +1610,6 @@
       "type": "object",
       "properties": {
         "metadata": {
-          "default": {},
           "$ref": "#/definitions/v1beta1.PipelineTaskMetadata"
         },
         "pipelineTaskName": {
diff --git a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
index 9d8a4346a00..6b52281b7c6 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1beta1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
@@ -1226,7 +1226,11 @@ func (in *PipelineTaskRunSpec) DeepCopyInto(out *PipelineTaskRunSpec) {
 			(*in)[i].DeepCopyInto(&(*out)[i])
 		}
 	}
-	in.Metadata.DeepCopyInto(&out.Metadata)
+	if in.Metadata != nil {
+		in, out := &in.Metadata, &out.Metadata
+		*out = new(PipelineTaskMetadata)
+		(*in).DeepCopyInto(*out)
+	}
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/reconciler/pipelinerun/pipelinerun.go b/pkg/reconciler/pipelinerun/pipelinerun.go
index 20ea3a7d260..12a24acb047 100644
--- a/pkg/reconciler/pipelinerun/pipelinerun.go
+++ b/pkg/reconciler/pipelinerun/pipelinerun.go
@@ -1024,7 +1024,9 @@ func combineTaskRunAndTaskSpecLabels(pr *v1beta1.PipelineRun, pipelineTask *v1be
 	labels := make(map[string]string)
 
 	taskRunSpec := pr.GetTaskRunSpec(pipelineTask.Name)
-	addMetadataByPrecedence(labels, taskRunSpec.Metadata.Labels)
+	if taskRunSpec.Metadata != nil {
+		addMetadataByPrecedence(labels, taskRunSpec.Metadata.Labels)
+	}
 
 	addMetadataByPrecedence(labels, getTaskrunLabels(pr, pipelineTask.Name, true))
 
@@ -1039,7 +1041,9 @@ func combineTaskRunAndTaskSpecAnnotations(pr *v1beta1.PipelineRun, pipelineTask
 	annotations := make(map[string]string)
 
 	taskRunSpec := pr.GetTaskRunSpec(pipelineTask.Name)
-	addMetadataByPrecedence(annotations, taskRunSpec.Metadata.Annotations)
+	if taskRunSpec.Metadata != nil {
+		addMetadataByPrecedence(annotations, taskRunSpec.Metadata.Annotations)
+	}
 
 	addMetadataByPrecedence(annotations, getTaskrunAnnotations(pr))