diff --git a/addons/web/static/lib/py.js/lib/py.js b/addons/web/static/lib/py.js/lib/py.js
index 06d834321de..bd794323995 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/lib/py.js/lib/py.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/lib/py.js/lib/py.js
@@ -282,7 +282,10 @@ var py = {};
         var name_pattern = new RegExp('^' + Name + '$');
         var strip = new RegExp('^' + Whitespace);
         return function tokenize(s) {
-            var max=s.length, tokens = [], start, end = undefined;
+            s = s
+                .replace(/\\\"/g, '\\u0022')   // for double quote
+                .replace(/\\\'/g, '\\u0027');  // for single quote
+            var max=s.length, tokens = [], start, end;
             // /g flag makes repeated exec() have memory
             var pseudoprog = new RegExp(PseudoToken, 'g');
 
@@ -302,7 +305,6 @@ var py = {};
                 end = pseudoprog.lastIndex;
                 // strip leading space caught by Whitespace
                 var token = s.slice(start, end).replace(strip, '');
-                var initial = token[0];
 
                 if (number_pattern.test(token)) {
                     tokens.push(create(symbols['(number)'], {
@@ -310,9 +312,13 @@ var py = {};
                     }));
                 } else if (string_pattern.test(token)) {
                     var m = string_pattern.exec(token);
+                    var value = (m[3] !== undefined ? m[3] : m[5]);
+                    value
+                        .replace(/\\u0022/g, '"')
+                        .replace(/\\u0027/g, "'");
                     tokens.push(create(symbols['(string)'], {
                         unicode: !!(m[2] || m[4]),
-                        value: (m[3] !== undefined ? m[3] : m[5])
+                        value: value
                     }));
                 } else if (token in symbols) {
                     var symbol;
diff --git a/addons/web/static/tests/core/py_utils_tests.js b/addons/web/static/tests/core/py_utils_tests.js
index d59fd30f957..be5760fc6c7 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/tests/core/py_utils_tests.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/tests/core/py_utils_tests.js
@@ -1254,6 +1254,13 @@ QUnit.module('core', function () {
         assert.checkAST(expr);
     });
 
+    QUnit.test("parse escaped quoted strings", function (assert) {
+        assert.expect(2);
+
+        assert.checkAST(`'\"'`, "a string containing \"");
+        assert.checkAST(`'\'`, "a string containing \'");
+    });
+
     QUnit.module('pyutils (_normalizeDomain)');
 
     QUnit.assert.checkNormalization = function (domain, normalizedDomain) {