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                                                                      Exhibit 5


April 15, 1998


Securities and Exchange Commission
Attention:  Division of Corporation Finance
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20549

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am the general counsel of Boise Cascade Office Products Corporation, a
Delaware corporation.  In that capacity, I represent the company in connection
with the preparation and filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of
a Registration Statement on Form S-3.  The Registration Statement relates to
the registration of $300,000,000 initial aggregate offering price of the
company's debt securities.  These securities will be issued under an Indenture
dated as of March 31, 1998, between the company and U.S. Bank Trust National
Association, as trustee.  I reviewed originals (or copies) of certified or
otherwise satisfactorily identified documents, corporate and other records,
certificates, and papers and such questions of law as I deemed it necessary to
examine for the purpose of this opinion.

Based on the foregoing, it is my opinion that:

 1.   The company is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws
      of the state of Delaware.

 2.   The debt securities, when duly authorized, executed, authenticated, and
      delivered against payment therefor, will be validly issued and will
      constitute binding obligations of the company in accordance with their
      terms.

I consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration
Statement.  I also consent to the references to me under the heading "Validity
of Offered Securities" in the Prospectus contained in the Registration
Statement.  In giving this consent, however, I do not admit that I am within
the category of persons whose consent is required by Section 7 of the
Securities Act of 1933.

Very truly yours,

/s/John W. Holleran

John W. Holleran

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