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                                                                     Exhibit 5.1

                                 BRYAN CAVE LLP
                             120 BROADWAY, SUITE 500
                         SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA 90401
                                 (310) 576-2100
                            FACSIMILE (310) 576-2200

                                September 3, 1997

Day Runner, Inc.
15295 Alton Parkway
Irvine, California 92718

               Re: Day Runner, Inc. - Registration Statement on Form S-8
                   -----------------------------------------------------
Gentlemen:

                We have acted as securities counsel for Day Runner, Inc. (the
"Company"), in connection with the preparation of a registration statement on
Form S-8 (the "Registration Statement") under the Securities Act of 1933 to be
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") on
September 3, 1997, in connection with the registration of 95,000 shares of
Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share (the "Shares"), issuable upon exercise
of warrants granted to seven officers of the Company (such warrants are referred
to herein as the "Plan").

                In connection with the preparation of the Registration Statement
and the proposed issuance and sale of the Shares in accordance with the Plan and
the Form S-8 prospectus to be delivered to participants in the Plan, we have
made certain legal and factual examinations and inquiries and examined, among
other things, such documents, records, instruments, agreements, certificates and
matters as we have considered appropriate and necessary for the rendering of
this opinion. We have assumed for the purpose of this opinion the authenticity
of all documents submitted to us as originals and the conformity with the
originals of all documents submitted to us as copies, and the genuineness of the
signatures thereon. As to various questions of fact material to this opinion, we
have, when relevant facts were not independently established, relied, to the
extent deemed proper by us, upon certificates and statements of officers and
representatives of the Company.

                Based on the foregoing and in reliance thereon, it is our
opinion that the Shares have been duly authorized and, after the Registration
Statement becomes effective and after any post-effective amendment required by
law is duly completed, filed and becomes effective, and when the applicable
provisions of "Blue Sky" and other state securities laws shall have been
complied with, and when the Shares are issued and sold in accordance with the
Plan and the Form S-8 prospectus to be delivered to the participants in the
Plan, the Shares will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

                We hereby consent to the inclusion of our opinion as Exhibit 5.1
to the Registration Statement and further consent to the reference to this firm
in the Registration Statement. In giving this 



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consent, we do not hereby admit that we are in the category of persons whose
consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act of 1933 or the rules
and regulations of the Commission thereunder.

                This opinion is rendered solely for your benefit in connection
with the subject transaction and is not to be otherwise used, circulated, quoted
or referred to without our prior written consent. We are opining herein as to
the effect on the subject transaction only of United States federal law and the
internal laws of the State of Delaware, and we assume no responsibility as to
the applicability thereto, or the effect thereon, of the laws of any other
jurisdiction.

                                        Very truly yours,

                                        BRYAN CAVE LLP
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                                        BRYAN CAVE LLP