diff --git a/controller/token_test.go b/controller/token_test.go
index 7ffb38b4..0c0f504b 100644
--- a/controller/token_test.go
+++ b/controller/token_test.go
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ func setupTokenControllerTestDB(t *testing.T) *gorm.DB {
 	return db
 }
 
-func openTokenControllerExternalDB(t *testing.T, dialect string, dsn string) *gorm.DB {
+func openTokenControllerExternalDB(t *testing.T, dialect string, dsn string) (*gorm.DB, *bool) {
 	t.Helper()
 
 	gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
@@ -142,15 +142,23 @@ func openTokenControllerExternalDB(t *testing.T, dialect string, dsn string) *go
 	model.DB = db
 	model.LOG_DB = db
 
+	if db.Migrator().HasTable("tokens") {
+		t.Skipf("refusing to run %s migration compatibility test against external database because tokens table already exists", dialect)
+	}
+
+	managedTokensTable := new(bool)
+
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
-		_ = db.Exec("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS tokens").Error
+		if *managedTokensTable && db.Migrator().HasTable("tokens") {
+			_ = db.Migrator().DropTable("tokens")
+		}
 		sqlDB, err := db.DB()
 		if err == nil {
 			_ = sqlDB.Close()
 		}
 	})
 
-	return db
+	return db, managedTokensTable
 }
 
 func seedToken(t *testing.T, db *gorm.DB, userID int, name string, rawKey string) *model.Token {
@@ -266,18 +274,18 @@ func getTokenKeyColumnType(t *testing.T, db *gorm.DB, dialect string) string {
 	}
 }
 
-func runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t *testing.T, db *gorm.DB, dialect string) {
+func runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t *testing.T, db *gorm.DB, dialect string, managedTokensTable *bool) {
 	t.Helper()
 
 	legacyKey := strings.Repeat("a", 48)
 	longKey := strings.Repeat("b", 64)
 
-	if err := db.Exec("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS tokens").Error; err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("failed to drop pre-existing token table: %v", err)
-	}
 	if err := db.AutoMigrate(&legacyToken{}); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("failed to create legacy token schema: %v", err)
 	}
+	if managedTokensTable != nil {
+		*managedTokensTable = true
+	}
 	if err := db.Create(&legacyToken{
 		UserId:             7,
 		Key:                legacyKey,
@@ -359,7 +367,7 @@ func TestTokenAutoMigrateUsesVarchar128KeyColumn(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestTokenMigrationFromChar48ToVarchar128(t *testing.T) {
 	db := openTokenControllerTestDB(t)
-	runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t, db, "sqlite")
+	runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t, db, "sqlite", nil)
 }
 
 func TestTokenMigrationFromChar48ToVarchar128MySQL(t *testing.T) {
@@ -368,8 +376,8 @@ func TestTokenMigrationFromChar48ToVarchar128MySQL(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Skip("set TEST_MYSQL_DSN to run mysql migration compatibility test")
 	}
 
-	db := openTokenControllerExternalDB(t, "mysql", dsn)
-	runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t, db, "mysql")
+	db, managedTokensTable := openTokenControllerExternalDB(t, "mysql", dsn)
+	runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t, db, "mysql", managedTokensTable)
 }
 
 func TestTokenMigrationFromChar48ToVarchar128Postgres(t *testing.T) {
@@ -378,8 +386,8 @@ func TestTokenMigrationFromChar48ToVarchar128Postgres(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Skip("set TEST_POSTGRES_DSN to run postgres migration compatibility test")
 	}
 
-	db := openTokenControllerExternalDB(t, "postgres", dsn)
-	runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t, db, "postgres")
+	db, managedTokensTable := openTokenControllerExternalDB(t, "postgres", dsn)
+	runTokenMigrationCompatibilityTest(t, db, "postgres", managedTokensTable)
 }
 
 func TestGetAllTokensMasksKeyInResponse(t *testing.T) {