diff --git a/activerecord/CHANGELOG b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
index dfe6f988c2..76d76cb0dd 100644
--- a/activerecord/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Ensure that save on child object fails for invalid belongs_to association. Closes #11555. [rubyruy]
+
 * Add support for interleaving migrations by storing which migrations have run in the new schema_migrations table. Closes #11493 [jordi]
 
 * ActiveRecord::Base#sum defaults to 0 if no rows are returned.  Closes #11550 [kamal]
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations.rb
index 7d27b0607a..3ea933875d 100755
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations.rb
@@ -922,6 +922,8 @@ module ActiveRecord
           )
         end
 
+        add_single_associated_save_callbacks(reflection.name)
+
         configure_dependency_for_belongs_to(reflection)
       end
 
diff --git a/activerecord/test/cases/associations/belongs_to_associations_test.rb b/activerecord/test/cases/associations/belongs_to_associations_test.rb
index b8ec9117af..75f236aca0 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/cases/associations/belongs_to_associations_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/cases/associations/belongs_to_associations_test.rb
@@ -377,4 +377,16 @@ class BelongsToAssociationsTest < ActiveRecord::TestCase
     assert companies(:first_client).readonly_firm.readonly?
   end
 
+  def test_save_fails_for_invalid_belongs_to
+    log = AuditLog.new
+    assert log.valid?
+
+    log.build_developer # Build invalid association
+    assert !log.developer.valid?
+    assert !log.valid?
+    assert_equal "is invalid", log.errors.on("developer")
+    
+    assert !log.save
+  end
+
 end