diff --git a/packages/virtualized-lists/Lists/VirtualizedListCellRenderer.js b/packages/virtualized-lists/Lists/VirtualizedListCellRenderer.js
index 35573a9d703c..c09feb8a6afa 100644
--- a/packages/virtualized-lists/Lists/VirtualizedListCellRenderer.js
+++ b/packages/virtualized-lists/Lists/VirtualizedListCellRenderer.js
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import type {
 import {VirtualizedListCellContextProvider} from './VirtualizedListContext.js';
 import invariant from 'invariant';
 import * as React from 'react';
-import {isValidElement} from 'react';
+import {Children, Fragment, isValidElement} from 'react';
 import {StyleSheet, View} from 'react-native';
 
 export type Props<ItemT> = {
@@ -204,13 +204,19 @@ export default class CellRenderer<ItemT> extends React.PureComponent<
           // $FlowFixMe[not-a-component]
           <ItemSeparatorComponent {...this.state.separatorProps} />
         );
-    const cellStyle = inversionStyle
+    const baseCellStyle = inversionStyle
       ? horizontal
         ? [styles.rowReverse, inversionStyle]
         : [styles.columnReverse, inversionStyle]
       : horizontal
         ? [styles.row, inversionStyle]
         : inversionStyle;
+    // zIndex on the item subtree does not reorder sibling cells; hoist it to this wrapper.
+    const childZIndex = extractZIndexFromListItemElement(element);
+    const cellStyle =
+      childZIndex != null
+        ? StyleSheet.compose(baseCellStyle, {zIndex: childZIndex})
+        : baseCellStyle;
     const result = !CellRendererComponent ? (
       <View
         style={cellStyle}
@@ -240,6 +246,40 @@ export default class CellRenderer<ItemT> extends React.PureComponent<
   }
 }
 
+// Returns zIndex from the outermost element returned by renderItem, if any. We only look at
+// that element's style prop (not deeper descendants inside a custom component).
+function extractZIndexFromListItemElement(element: React.Node): ?number {
+  if (!isValidElement(element)) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  // $FlowFixMe[prop-missing] React.Element internal inspection
+  if (element.type === Fragment) {
+    let maxZIndex: ?number = null;
+    Children.forEach(
+      // $FlowFixMe[prop-missing] React.Element internal inspection
+      element.props.children,
+      child => {
+        const zIndex = extractZIndexFromListItemElement(child);
+        if (zIndex != null && (maxZIndex == null || zIndex > maxZIndex)) {
+          maxZIndex = zIndex;
+        }
+      },
+    );
+    return maxZIndex;
+  }
+
+  // $FlowFixMe[prop-missing] React.Element internal inspection
+  const style = element.props.style;
+  if (style == null) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const flatStyle = StyleSheet.flatten(style);
+  const zIndex = flatStyle?.zIndex;
+  return typeof zIndex === 'number' ? zIndex : null;
+}
+
 const styles = StyleSheet.create({
   row: {
     flexDirection: 'row',
diff --git a/packages/virtualized-lists/Lists/__tests__/VirtualizedListCellRenderer-test.js b/packages/virtualized-lists/Lists/__tests__/VirtualizedListCellRenderer-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e9d009b3becc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/virtualized-lists/Lists/__tests__/VirtualizedListCellRenderer-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @noflow
+ * @format
+ */
+
+import CellRenderer from '../VirtualizedListCellRenderer';
+import * as React from 'react';
+import {Fragment} from 'react';
+import {act, create} from 'react-test-renderer';
+import {StyleSheet, View} from 'react-native';
+
+function getFlattenedZIndex(style) {
+  if (style == null) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  return StyleSheet.flatten(style)?.zIndex;
+}
+
+function findCellWrapperViews(root) {
+  return root.findAll(
+    node =>
+      node.type === View &&
+      typeof node.props.onFocusCapture === 'function',
+  );
+}
+
+function renderCellRenderer(renderItem, extraProps = {}) {
+  let component;
+  act(() => {
+    component = create(
+      <CellRenderer
+        cellKey="cell-0"
+        index={0}
+        item={{id: 'item-0'}}
+        horizontal={false}
+        inversionStyle={null}
+        onUnmount={() => {}}
+        onUpdateSeparators={() => {}}
+        renderItem={renderItem}
+        {...extraProps}
+      />,
+    );
+  });
+  return component;
+}
+
+describe('VirtualizedListCellRenderer zIndex', () => {
+  it('lifts zIndex from renderItem root View onto the cell wrapper', () => {
+    const component = renderCellRenderer(() => (
+      <View style={{zIndex: 10}} testID="list-item" />
+    ));
+
+    const cellWrappers = findCellWrapperViews(component.root);
+    expect(cellWrappers).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(getFlattenedZIndex(cellWrappers[0].props.style)).toBe(10);
+  });
+
+  it('lifts zIndex from style arrays on the renderItem root View', () => {
+    const component = renderCellRenderer(() => (
+      <View style={[{backgroundColor: 'red'}, {zIndex: 5}]} testID="list-item" />
+    ));
+
+    const cellWrappers = findCellWrapperViews(component.root);
+    expect(getFlattenedZIndex(cellWrappers[0].props.style)).toBe(5);
+  });
+
+  it('lifts the maximum zIndex from Fragment children', () => {
+    const component = renderCellRenderer(() => (
+      <Fragment>
+        <View style={{zIndex: 2}} />
+        <View style={{zIndex: 7}} />
+      </Fragment>
+    ));
+
+    const cellWrappers = findCellWrapperViews(component.root);
+    expect(getFlattenedZIndex(cellWrappers[0].props.style)).toBe(7);
+  });
+
+  it('does not add zIndex to the cell wrapper when renderItem has none', () => {
+    const component = renderCellRenderer(() => (
+      <View style={{backgroundColor: 'blue'}} testID="list-item" />
+    ));
+
+    const cellWrappers = findCellWrapperViews(component.root);
+    expect(getFlattenedZIndex(cellWrappers[0].props.style)).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('passes lifted zIndex to CellRendererComponent style prop', () => {
+    function CustomCellRenderer({children, style}) {
+      return (
+        <View testID="custom-cell" style={style}>
+          {children}
+        </View>
+      );
+    }
+
+    const component = renderCellRenderer(
+      () => <View style={{zIndex: 42}} />,
+      {CellRendererComponent: CustomCellRenderer},
+    );
+
+    const customCell = component.root.findByProps({testID: 'custom-cell'});
+    expect(getFlattenedZIndex(customCell.props.style)).toBe(42);
+  });
+});