diff --git a/R/get_datagrid.R b/R/get_datagrid.R
index 855ed625f..b705e3db0 100644
--- a/R/get_datagrid.R
+++ b/R/get_datagrid.R
@@ -747,6 +747,13 @@ get_datagrid.default <- function(
 
   # check for interactions in "by"
   by <- .extract_at_interactions(by)
+  by_stripped <- vapply(
+    by,
+    function(by_var) {
+      .get_datagrid_clean_target(by_var, x = data, digits = digits)$varname
+    },
+    character(1)
+  )
 
   # Drop random factors
   random_factors <- find_random(x, flatten = TRUE, split_nested = TRUE)
@@ -756,8 +763,8 @@ get_datagrid.default <- function(
       keep <- c(find_predictors(x, effects = "fixed", flatten = TRUE), response)
       if (!is.null(keep)) {
         if (all(by != "all")) {
-          keep <- c(keep, by[by %in% random_factors])
-          random_factors <- setdiff(random_factors, by)
+          keep <- c(keep, by_stripped[by_stripped %in% random_factors])
+          random_factors <- setdiff(random_factors, by_stripped)
         }
         data <- data[colnames(data) %in% keep]
       }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-get_datagrid.R b/tests/testthat/test-get_datagrid.R
index 81b8c3109..0fb0ed881 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-get_datagrid.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-get_datagrid.R
@@ -822,6 +822,30 @@ test_that("get_datagrid - include_random works with numeric group factors", {
   expect_identical(out$cyl, c(NA, NA))
 })
 
+test_that("get_datagrid - by with tokened random effect", {
+  skip_if_not_installed("glmmTMB")
+
+  data(mtcars)
+  mtcars$vs <- as.factor(mtcars$vs)
+  model <- glmmTMB::glmmTMB(
+    mpg ~ vs + (1 | cyl),
+    data = mtcars
+  )
+  out <- get_datagrid(
+    model,
+    by = c("vs", "cyl = [minmax]")
+  )
+
+  expect_identical(
+    out$vs,
+    structure(c(1L, 1L, 2L), levels = c("0", "1"), class = "factor")
+  )
+  expect_identical(
+    out$cyl,
+    c(4, 8, 4)
+  )
+})
+
 
 test_that("get_datagrid - include_random works with interacting random effects", {
   skip_if_not_installed("glmmTMB")