EXHIBIT 5.1

                  [OPPENHEIMER WOLFF & DONNELLY LLP LETTERHEAD]



February 27, 2002

Select Comfort Corporation
6105 Trenton Lane North
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55442

Re: Registration Statement on Form S-3

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have acted as counsel to Select Comfort Corporation, a Minnesota corporation
(the "Company"), in connection with the Company's Registration Statement on Form
S-3 (the "Registration Statement") filed by the Company with the Securities and
Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, relating to
the offer and sale by the selling shareholders named in the Registration
Statement (the "Selling Shareholders") of up to 5,060,000 shares (the "Shares")
of the Company's common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the "Common Stock"),
including 400,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants
(the "Warrants") held by certain Selling Shareholders (the "Warrant Shares") and
660,000 shares of Common Stock that may be purchased at the option of the
underwriters to cover over-allotments, if any.

In acting as counsel for the Company and arriving at the opinions expressed
below, we have examined and relied upon originals or copies, certified or
otherwise identified to our satisfaction, of such records of the Company,
agreements and other instruments, certificates or statements of officers of the
Company, certificates of public officials and other documents we have deemed
necessary or appropriate as a basis for the opinions expressed herein. As to the
various questions of fact material to such opinions, we have, when relevant
facts were not independently established, relied upon officers of the Company.
In connection with our examination, we have assumed the genuineness of all
signatures, the authenticity of all documents tendered to us as originals, the
legal capacity of natural persons and the conformity to original documents of
all documents submitted to us as certified or photostatic copies.

Based on the foregoing, and subject to the qualifications and limitations stated
herein, it is our opinion that:

1.       The Shares, other than the Warrant Shares, which are being offered and
         sold by the Selling Shareholders pursuant to the Registration Statement
         are validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.

2.       The Warrant Shares, when issued upon exercise of the Warrants and
         receipt by the Company of the consideration required to be paid upon
         exercise of the Warrants, will be validly issued, fully paid and
         non-assessable.

We express no opinion with respect to laws other than those of the State of
Minnesota and the federal laws of the United States of America, and we assume no
responsibility as to the applicability thereto, or the effect thereon, of the
laws of any other jurisdiction.

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as Exhibit 5.1 to the
Registration Statement, to its use as part of the Registration Statement, and to
the use of our name under the caption "Legal Matters" in the prospectus, which
is part of the Registration Statement.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP

OPPENHEIMER WOLFF & DONNELLY LLP