diff --git a/src/php/bin/interop_client.sh b/src/php/bin/interop_client.sh
index 17b888dd4edb45ec02e71de46c3d6671081c3330..2af49cd8922073296a19c546e778d16312c9fbae 100755
--- a/src/php/bin/interop_client.sh
+++ b/src/php/bin/interop_client.sh
@@ -31,5 +31,5 @@
 set -e
 cd $(dirname $0)
 source ./determine_extension_dir.sh
-php $extension_dir \
+php $extension_dir -d max_execution_time=300 \
   ../tests/interop/interop_client.php $@ 1>&2
diff --git a/src/php/bin/run_gen_code_test.sh b/src/php/bin/run_gen_code_test.sh
index 6e56c7207c21577694e8cc53e0e600bd9d62c1f4..5dfebb42b6365b565935b5c6aaf313a6f63dc0e7 100755
--- a/src/php/bin/run_gen_code_test.sh
+++ b/src/php/bin/run_gen_code_test.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ set -e
 cd $(dirname $0)
 source ./determine_extension_dir.sh
 export GRPC_TEST_HOST=localhost:50051
-php $extension_dir $(which phpunit) -v --debug --strict \
+php $extension_dir -d max_execution_time=300 $(which phpunit) -v --debug --strict \
   ../tests/generated_code/GeneratedCodeTest.php
-php $extension_dir $(which phpunit) -v --debug --strict \
+php $extension_dir -d max_execution_time=300 $(which phpunit) -v --debug --strict \
   ../tests/generated_code/GeneratedCodeWithCallbackTest.php
diff --git a/src/php/bin/run_tests.sh b/src/php/bin/run_tests.sh
index 1fe68cdab4b05f41a2b557e20a045b2826993852..5adc77879a2670db3f203fe9fabf855ea7ccca7e 100755
--- a/src/php/bin/run_tests.sh
+++ b/src/php/bin/run_tests.sh
@@ -37,5 +37,5 @@ cd src/php/bin
 source ./determine_extension_dir.sh
 # in some jenkins macos machine, somehow the PHP build script can't find libgrpc.dylib
 export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$root/libs/$config
-php $extension_dir $(which phpunit) -v --debug --strict \
+php $extension_dir -d max_execution_time=300 $(which phpunit) -v --debug --strict \
   ../tests/unit_tests