diff --git a/news/1 Enhancements/5368.md b/news/1 Enhancements/5368.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a92213fde27c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/1 Enhancements/5368.md	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Swap getsizeof size value for something more sensible in the variable explorer
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package.nls.json b/package.nls.json
index 6592103d2c73..09c57644bda7 100644
--- a/package.nls.json
+++ b/package.nls.json
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@
     "LanguageService.reloadVSCodeIfSeachPathHasChanged": "Search paths have changed for this Python interpreter. Please reload the extension to ensure that the IntelliSense works correctly",
     "DataScience.variableExplorerNameColumn": "Name",
     "DataScience.variableExplorerTypeColumn": "Type",
-    "DataScience.variableExplorerSizeColumn": "Size",
+    "DataScience.variableExplorerSizeColumn": "Count",
     "DataScience.variableExplorerValueColumn": "Value",
     "DataScience.showDataExplorerTooltip": "Show variable in data explorer.",
     "DataScience.dataExplorerInvalidVariableFormat": "'{0}' is not an active variable.",
diff --git a/pythonFiles/datascience/getJupyterVariableValue.py b/pythonFiles/datascience/getJupyterVariableValue.py
index efd098e9ba65..38ef30c89c70 100644
--- a/pythonFiles/datascience/getJupyterVariableValue.py
+++ b/pythonFiles/datascience/getJupyterVariableValue.py
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@
 _VSCODE_evalResult = eval(_VSCODE_targetVariable['name'])
 
 # Find shape and count if available
-if _VSCODE_targetVariable['type'] in ['ndarray','DataFrame','Series']:
+if (hasattr(_VSCODE_evalResult, 'shape')):
     _VSCODE_targetVariable['shape'] = str(_VSCODE_evalResult.shape)
 
-if _VSCODE_targetVariable['type'] in ['tuple', 'str', 'dict', 'list', 'set', 'ndarray','DataFrame','Series']:
+if (hasattr(_VSCODE_evalResult, '__len__')):
     _VSCODE_targetVariable['count'] = len(_VSCODE_evalResult)
 
 # Get the string of the eval result, truncate it as it could be far too long
diff --git a/src/datascience-ui/history-react/variableExplorer.tsx b/src/datascience-ui/history-react/variableExplorer.tsx
index 2b82bf03e3ff..ebbfb7ffbd79 100644
--- a/src/datascience-ui/history-react/variableExplorer.tsx
+++ b/src/datascience-ui/history-react/variableExplorer.tsx
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ export class VariableExplorer extends React.Component<IVariableExplorerProps, IV
         const columns = [
             {key: 'name', name: getLocString('DataScience.variableExplorerNameColumn', 'Name'), type: 'string', width: 120, formatter: <VariableExplorerCellFormatter cellStyle={CellStyle.variable} />},
             {key: 'type', name: getLocString('DataScience.variableExplorerTypeColumn', 'Type'), type: 'string', width: 120},
-            {key: 'size', name: getLocString('DataScience.variableExplorerSizeColumn', 'Size'), type: 'number', width: 120, formatter: <VariableExplorerCellFormatter cellStyle={CellStyle.numeric} />},
+            {key: 'size', name: getLocString('DataScience.variableExplorerSizeColumn', 'Count'), type: 'string', width: 120, formatter: <VariableExplorerCellFormatter cellStyle={CellStyle.numeric} />},
             {key: 'value', name: getLocString('DataScience.variableExplorerValueColumn', 'Value'), type: 'string', width: 300},
             {key: 'buttons', name: '', type: 'boolean', width: 34, formatter: <VariableExplorerButtonCellFormatter showDataExplorer={this.props.showDataExplorer} baseTheme={this.props.baseTheme} /> }
         ];
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ export class VariableExplorer extends React.Component<IVariableExplorerProps, IV
     // Help to keep us independent of main history window state if we choose to break out the variable explorer
     public newVariablesData(newVariables: IJupyterVariable[]) {
         const newGridRows = newVariables.map(newVar => {
-            return { buttons: {name: newVar.name, supportsDataExplorer: newVar.supportsDataExplorer}, name: newVar.name, type: newVar.type, size: newVar.size, value: getLocString('DataScience.variableLoadingValue', 'Loading...')};
+            return { buttons: {name: newVar.name, supportsDataExplorer: newVar.supportsDataExplorer}, name: newVar.name, type: newVar.type, size: '', value: getLocString('DataScience.variableLoadingValue', 'Loading...')};
         });
 
         this.setState({ gridRows: newGridRows});
@@ -136,7 +136,19 @@ export class VariableExplorer extends React.Component<IVariableExplorerProps, IV
         const newGridRows = this.state.gridRows.slice();
         for (let i = 0; i < newGridRows.length; i = i + 1) {
             if (newGridRows[i].name === newVariable.name) {
-                const newGridRow = {...newGridRows[i], value: newVariable.value};
+
+                // For object with shape, use that for size
+                // for object with length use that for size
+                // If it doesn't have either, then just leave it out
+                let newSize = '';
+                if (newVariable.shape && newVariable.shape !== '') {
+                    newSize = newVariable.shape;
+                } else if (newVariable.count) {
+                    newSize = newVariable.count.toString();
+                }
+
+                const newGridRow = {...newGridRows[i], value: newVariable.value, size: newSize};
+
                 newGridRows[i] = newGridRow;
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/test/datascience/variableexplorer.functional.test.tsx b/src/test/datascience/variableexplorer.functional.test.tsx
index d90bba4d53ad..c9a9225ea7bb 100644
--- a/src/test/datascience/variableexplorer.functional.test.tsx
+++ b/src/test/datascience/variableexplorer.functional.test.tsx
@@ -268,6 +268,13 @@ function verifyRow(rowWrapper: ReactWrapper<any, Readonly<{}>, React.Component>,
 
     verifyCell(rowCells.at(0), targetVariable.name, targetVariable.name);
     verifyCell(rowCells.at(1), targetVariable.type, targetVariable.name);
+
+    if (targetVariable.shape && targetVariable.shape !== '') {
+        verifyCell(rowCells.at(2), targetVariable.shape, targetVariable.name);
+    } else if (targetVariable.count) {
+        verifyCell(rowCells.at(2), targetVariable.count.toString(), targetVariable.name);
+    }
+
     verifyCell(rowCells.at(3), targetVariable.value ? targetVariable.value : '', targetVariable.name);
 }