Exhibit 5.1

May 16, 2006

CVS Corporation
One CVS Drive
Woonsocket, RI 02895

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have acted as counsel for CVS Corporation, a Delaware company (the “Company”) in connection with the Registration Statement on Form S-3 (the “Registration Statement”) filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) on May 16, 2006, for the registration of the sale from time to time of the Company’s debt securities (the “Debt Securities”), which may be issued pursuant to a debt indenture (the “Indenture”), between the Company and The Bank of New York Trust Company, N.A., a national banking association, as trustee (the “Trustee”).

We, as your counsel, have examined originals or copies, certified or otherwise identified to our satisfaction, of such documents, corporate records, certificates of public officials and other instruments as we have deemed necessary or advisable for the purposes of rendering this opinion.

On the basis of the foregoing, we advise you that, in our opinion,:

1. When the Indenture and any supplemental indenture to be entered into in connection with the issuance of any Debt Securities have been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Trustee and the Company; the specific terms of a particular series of Debt Securities have been duly authorized and established in accordance with the Indenture; and such Debt Securities have been duly authorized, executed, authenticated, issued and delivered in accordance with the Indenture and the applicable underwriting or other agreement, such Debt Securities will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable in accordance with their terms, except as (a) the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, fraudulent transfer, moratorium or similar laws now or hereinafter in effect relating to or affecting the enforcement of creditors’ rights generally and (b) the availability of equitable remedies may be limited by equitable principles of general applicability (regardless of whether considered in a proceeding at law or in equity).

In connection with the opinions expressed above, we have assumed that, at or prior to the time of the delivery of any such security, (i) the Board of Directors shall have duly established the terms of such security and duly authorized the issuance and sale of such security and such authorization shall not have been modified or rescinded; (ii) the Registration Statement shall be effective and such effectiveness shall not have been terminated or rescinded; and (iii) there shall not have occurred any change in law affecting the validity or enforceability of such security. We have also assumed that none of the terms of any security to be established subsequent to the date hereof, nor the issuance and delivery of such security, nor the compliance by the Company with the terms of such security will violate any applicable law or will result in a violation of any provision of any instrument or agreement then binding upon the Company, or any restriction imposed by any court or governmental body having jurisdiction over the Company.

We are members of the Bar of the State of New York and the foregoing opinion is limited to the laws of the State of New York, the federal laws of the United States of America and the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware.

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement to above and further consent to the reference to our name under the caption “ Validity of Securities” in the prospectus, which is a part of the Registration Statement. In giving this consent, we do not admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act.