diff --git a/templates/templates.go b/templates/templates.go
index 4af4496d19a1..ea381a5f68ce 100644
--- a/templates/templates.go
+++ b/templates/templates.go
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ package templates
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"reflect"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"text/template"
 )
@@ -26,7 +29,7 @@ var basicFunctions = template.FuncMap{
 		return strings.TrimSpace(buf.String())
 	},
 	"split":    strings.Split,
-	"join":     strings.Join,
+	"join":     joinElements,
 	"title":    strings.Title, //nolint:nolintlint,staticcheck // strings.Title is deprecated, but we only use it for ASCII, so replacing with golang.org/x/text is out of scope
 	"lower":    strings.ToLower,
 	"upper":    strings.ToUpper,
@@ -103,3 +106,40 @@ func truncateWithLength(source string, length int) string {
 	}
 	return source[:length]
 }
+
+// joinElements joins a slice of items with the given separator. It uses
+// [strings.Join] if it's a slice of strings, otherwise uses [fmt.Sprint]
+// to join each item to the output.
+func joinElements(elems any, sep string) (string, error) {
+	if elems == nil {
+		return "", nil
+	}
+
+	if ss, ok := elems.([]string); ok {
+		return strings.Join(ss, sep), nil
+	}
+
+	switch rv := reflect.ValueOf(elems); rv.Kind() { //nolint:exhaustive // ignore: too many options to make exhaustive
+	case reflect.Array, reflect.Slice:
+		var b strings.Builder
+		for i := range rv.Len() {
+			if i > 0 {
+				b.WriteString(sep)
+			}
+			_, _ = fmt.Fprint(&b, rv.Index(i).Interface())
+		}
+		return b.String(), nil
+
+	case reflect.Map:
+		var out []string
+		for _, k := range rv.MapKeys() {
+			out = append(out, fmt.Sprint(rv.MapIndex(k).Interface()))
+		}
+		// Not ideal, but trying to keep a consistent order
+		sort.Strings(out)
+		return strings.Join(out, sep), nil
+
+	default:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("expected slice, got %T", elems)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/templates/templates_test.go b/templates/templates_test.go
index e9dbaefd0e5e..ed1ee5b95d13 100644
--- a/templates/templates_test.go
+++ b/templates/templates_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package templates
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"testing"
+	"text/template"
 
 	"gotest.tools/v3/assert"
 	is "gotest.tools/v3/assert/cmp"
@@ -139,3 +140,92 @@ func TestHeaderFunctions(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+type stringerString string
+
+func (s stringerString) String() string {
+	return "stringer" + string(s)
+}
+
+type stringerAndError string
+
+func (s stringerAndError) String() string {
+	return "stringer" + string(s)
+}
+
+func (s stringerAndError) Error() string {
+	return "error" + string(s)
+}
+
+func TestJoinElements(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		doc    string
+		data   any
+		expOut string
+		expErr string
+	}{
+		{
+			doc:    "nil",
+			data:   nil,
+			expOut: `output: ""`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "non-slice",
+			data:   "hello",
+			expOut: `output: "`,
+			expErr: `error calling join: expected slice, got string`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "structs",
+			data:   []struct{ A, B string }{{"1", "2"}, {"3", "4"}},
+			expOut: `output: "{1 2}, {3 4}"`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "map with strings",
+			data:   map[string]string{"A": "1", "B": "2", "C": "3"},
+			expOut: `output: "1, 2, 3"`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "map with stringers",
+			data:   map[string]stringerString{"A": "1", "B": "2", "C": "3"},
+			expOut: `output: "stringer1, stringer2, stringer3"`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "map with errors",
+			data:   []stringerAndError{"1", "2", "3"},
+			expOut: `output: "error1, error2, error3"`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "stringers",
+			data:   []stringerString{"1", "2", "3"},
+			expOut: `output: "stringer1, stringer2, stringer3"`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "stringer with errors",
+			data:   []stringerAndError{"1", "2", "3"},
+			expOut: `output: "error1, error2, error3"`,
+		},
+		{
+			doc:    "slice of bools",
+			data:   []bool{true, false, true},
+			expOut: `output: "true, false, true"`,
+		},
+	}
+
+	const formatStr = `output: "{{- join . ", " -}}"`
+	tmpl, err := New("my-template").Funcs(template.FuncMap{"join": joinElements}).Parse(formatStr)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.doc, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var b bytes.Buffer
+			err := tmpl.Execute(&b, tc.data)
+			if tc.expErr != "" {
+				assert.ErrorContains(t, err, tc.expErr)
+			} else {
+				assert.NilError(t, err)
+			}
+			assert.Equal(t, b.String(), tc.expOut)
+		})
+	}
+}