diff --git a/src/style-spec/function/convert.js b/src/style-spec/function/convert.js
index b200b40cc7b..73bd7fef9f9 100644
--- a/src/style-spec/function/convert.js
+++ b/src/style-spec/function/convert.js
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ export function convertTokenString(s: string) {
         const literal = s.slice(pos, re.lastIndex - match[0].length);
         pos = re.lastIndex;
         if (literal.length > 0) result.push(literal);
-        result.push(['to-string', ['get', match[1]]]);
+        result.push(['get', match[1]]);
     }
 
     if (result.length === 1) {
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ export function convertTokenString(s: string) {
     if (pos < s.length) {
         result.push(s.slice(pos));
     } else if (result.length === 2) {
-        return result[1];
+        return ['to-string', result[1]];
     }
 
     return result;
diff --git a/test/integration/expression-tests/legacy/interval/tokens-zoom/test.json b/test/integration/expression-tests/legacy/interval/tokens-zoom/test.json
index 05e95024253..fed8f4f31bb 100644
--- a/test/integration/expression-tests/legacy/interval/tokens-zoom/test.json
+++ b/test/integration/expression-tests/legacy/interval/tokens-zoom/test.json
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
-  "expression": {"type": "interval", "stops": [[0, "0 {a}"], [1, "1 {b}"]]},
+  "expression": {"type": "interval", "stops": [[0, "0 {a}"], [1, "{b}"]]},
   "inputs": [
-    [{"zoom": 0}, {"properties": {"a": "a", "b": "b"}}],
-    [{"zoom": 1}, {"properties": {"a": "a", "b": "b"}}],
+    [{"zoom": 0}, {"properties": {"a": "a", "b": 2}}],
+    [{"zoom": 1}, {"properties": {"a": "a", "b": 2}}],
     [{"zoom": 0}, {"properties": {}}]
   ],
   "propertySpec": {
@@ -18,13 +18,13 @@
       "isZoomConstant": false,
       "type": "string"
     },
-    "outputs": ["0 a", "1 b", "0 "],
+    "outputs": ["0 a", "2", "0 "],
     "serialized": [
       "step",
       ["zoom"],
-      ["concat", "0 ", ["to-string", ["get", "a"]]],
+      ["concat", "0 ", ["get", "a"]],
       1,
-      ["concat", "1 ", ["to-string", ["get", "b"]]]
+      ["to-string", ["get", "b"]]
     ]
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/style-spec/migrate.test.js b/test/unit/style-spec/migrate.test.js
index fc7c46f896e..100b5003043 100644
--- a/test/unit/style-spec/migrate.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/style-spec/migrate.test.js
@@ -36,11 +36,11 @@ t('converts token strings to expressions', (t) => {
         layers: [{
             id: '1',
             type: 'symbol',
-            layout: {'text-field': 'a{x}', 'icon-image': 'b{y}'}
+            layout: {'text-field': 'a{x}', 'icon-image': '{y}'}
         }]
     }, spec.latest.$version);
-    t.deepEqual(migrated.layers[0].layout['text-field'], ['concat', 'a', ['to-string', ['get', 'x']]]);
-    t.deepEqual(migrated.layers[0].layout['icon-image'], ['concat', 'b', ['to-string', ['get', 'y']]]);
+    t.deepEqual(migrated.layers[0].layout['text-field'], ['concat', 'a', ['get', 'x']]);
+    t.deepEqual(migrated.layers[0].layout['icon-image'], ['to-string', ['get', 'y']]);
     t.end();
 });