diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7bb9e79e27..f8c9030160 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
   - You can now choose which logs are captured: 'native' for logs from native code only, 'js' for logs from the JavaScript layer only, or 'all' for both layers.
   - Takes effect only if `enableLogs` is `true` and defaults to 'all', preserving previous behavior.
 
+### Fixes
+
+- Preserves interaction span context during app restart to allow proper replay capture ([#5386](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-react-native/pull/5386))
+
 ### Dependencies
 
 - Bump JavaScript SDK from v10.24.0 to v10.25.0 ([#5362](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-react-native/pull/5362))
diff --git a/packages/core/src/js/tracing/reactnavigation.ts b/packages/core/src/js/tracing/reactnavigation.ts
index ff5b98f80b..98ffdff22f 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/js/tracing/reactnavigation.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/js/tracing/reactnavigation.ts
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ export const reactNavigationIntegration = ({
         // This ensures runApplication calls after the initial start are correctly traced.
         // This is used for example when Activity is (re)started on Android.
         debug.log('[ReactNavigationIntegration] Starting new idle navigation span based on runApplication call.');
-        startIdleNavigationSpan();
+        startIdleNavigationSpan(undefined, true);
       }
     });
 
@@ -209,8 +209,11 @@ export const reactNavigationIntegration = ({
    * To be called on every React-Navigation action dispatch.
    * It does not name the transaction or populate it with route information. Instead, it waits for the state to fully change
    * and gets the route information from there, @see updateLatestNavigationSpanWithCurrentRoute
+   *
+   * @param unknownEvent - The event object that contains navigation action data
+   * @param isAppRestart - Whether this span is being started due to an app restart rather than a normal navigation action
    */
-  const startIdleNavigationSpan = (unknownEvent?: unknown): void => {
+  const startIdleNavigationSpan = (unknownEvent?: unknown, isAppRestart = false): void => {
     const event = unknownEvent as UnsafeAction | undefined;
     if (useDispatchedActionData && event?.data.noop) {
       debug.log(`${INTEGRATION_NAME} Navigation action is a noop, not starting navigation span.`);
@@ -245,7 +248,7 @@ export const reactNavigationIntegration = ({
       tracing?.options.beforeStartSpan
         ? tracing.options.beforeStartSpan(getDefaultIdleNavigationSpanOptions())
         : getDefaultIdleNavigationSpanOptions(),
-      idleSpanOptions,
+      { ...idleSpanOptions, isAppRestart },
     );
     latestNavigationSpan?.setAttribute(SEMANTIC_ATTRIBUTE_SENTRY_ORIGIN, SPAN_ORIGIN_AUTO_NAVIGATION_REACT_NAVIGATION);
     latestNavigationSpan?.setAttribute(SEMANTIC_ATTRIBUTE_NAVIGATION_ACTION_TYPE, navigationActionType);
diff --git a/packages/core/src/js/tracing/span.ts b/packages/core/src/js/tracing/span.ts
index 88b54c3070..030c12028a 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/js/tracing/span.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/js/tracing/span.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ export const startIdleNavigationSpan = (
   {
     finalTimeout = defaultIdleOptions.finalTimeout,
     idleTimeout = defaultIdleOptions.idleTimeout,
-  }: Partial<typeof defaultIdleOptions> = {},
+    isAppRestart = false,
+  }: Partial<typeof defaultIdleOptions> & { isAppRestart?: boolean } = {},
 ): Span | undefined => {
   const client = getClient();
   if (!client) {
@@ -58,8 +59,20 @@ export const startIdleNavigationSpan = (
   }
 
   const activeSpan = getActiveSpan();
+  const isActiveSpanInteraction = activeSpan && isRootSpan(activeSpan) && isSentryInteractionSpan(activeSpan);
+
   clearActiveSpanFromScope(getCurrentScope());
-  if (activeSpan && isRootSpan(activeSpan) && isSentryInteractionSpan(activeSpan)) {
+
+  // Don't cancel user interaction spans when starting from runApplication (app restart/reload).
+  // This preserves the span context for error capture and replay recording.
+  if (isActiveSpanInteraction && isAppRestart) {
+    debug.log(
+      `[startIdleNavigationSpan] Not canceling ${
+        spanToJSON(activeSpan).op
+      } transaction because navigation is from app restart - preserving error context.`,
+    );
+    // Don't end the span - it will timeout naturally and remains available for error/replay processing
+  } else if (isActiveSpanInteraction) {
     debug.log(
       `[startIdleNavigationSpan] Canceling ${
         spanToJSON(activeSpan).op
diff --git a/packages/core/test/tracing/idleNavigationSpan.test.ts b/packages/core/test/tracing/idleNavigationSpan.test.ts
index 74cca511c1..d0c598ca38 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/tracing/idleNavigationSpan.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/tracing/idleNavigationSpan.test.ts
@@ -169,6 +169,58 @@ describe('startIdleNavigationSpan', () => {
       expect(newSpan).toBe(getActiveSpan());
       expect(spanToJSON(newSpan!).parent_span_id).toBeUndefined();
     });
+
+    it('Cancels user interaction span during normal navigation', () => {
+      const userInteractionSpan = startSpanManual(
+        {
+          name: 'ui.action.touch',
+          op: 'ui.action.touch',
+          attributes: {
+            'sentry.origin': 'auto.interaction',
+          },
+        },
+        (span: Span) => span,
+      );
+      setActiveSpanOnScope(getCurrentScope(), userInteractionSpan);
+
+      const navigationSpan = startIdleNavigationSpan({
+        name: 'test',
+      });
+
+      expect(spanToJSON(userInteractionSpan).timestamp).toBeDefined();
+      expect(spanToJSON(userInteractionSpan).status).toBe('cancelled');
+
+      expect(navigationSpan).toBe(getActiveSpan());
+    });
+
+    it('Does NOT cancel user interaction span when navigation starts from runApplication (app restart)', () => {
+      const userInteractionSpan = startSpanManual(
+        {
+          name: 'ui.action.touch',
+          op: 'ui.action.touch',
+          attributes: {
+            'sentry.origin': 'auto.interaction',
+          },
+        },
+        (span: Span) => span,
+      );
+      setActiveSpanOnScope(getCurrentScope(), userInteractionSpan);
+
+      // Start navigation span from runApplication (app restart/reload - e.g. after error)
+      const navigationSpan = startIdleNavigationSpan(
+        {
+          name: 'test',
+        },
+        { isAppRestart: true },
+      );
+
+      // User interaction span should NOT be cancelled/ended - preserving it for replay capture
+      expect(spanToJSON(userInteractionSpan).timestamp).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(spanToJSON(userInteractionSpan).status).not.toBe('cancelled');
+
+      expect(navigationSpan).toBeDefined();
+      expect(getActiveSpan()).toBe(navigationSpan);
+    });
   });
 });