diff --git a/spacy/cli/download.py b/spacy/cli/download.py
index 35afef609..7196b7fca 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/download.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/download.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from .. import about
 from ..errors import OLD_MODEL_SHORTCUTS
 from ..util import (
     get_minor_version,
+    is_in_interactive,
     is_in_jupyter,
     is_package,
     is_prerelease_version,
@@ -95,6 +96,11 @@ def download(
             "You can do this clicking on the 'Restart Kernel' button (or "
             "'Restart Runtime' button in the case of Google Colab)"
         )
+    elif is_in_interactive():
+        reload_deps_msg = (
+            f"{reload_deps_msg}This includes the current interactive Python session: "
+            "You can do this by pressing 'Ctrl+D' (or 'Ctrl+Z' and 'Enter' on Windows)."
+        )
     msg.info(
         "Reloading dependencies",
         reload_deps_msg,
diff --git a/spacy/util.py b/spacy/util.py
index 79fcb8b8d..79c911491 100644
--- a/spacy/util.py
+++ b/spacy/util.py
@@ -43,11 +43,12 @@ import catalogue
 import langcodes
 import numpy
 import srsly
-import thinc
 from catalogue import Registry, RegistryError
 from packaging.requirements import Requirement
 from packaging.specifiers import InvalidSpecifier, SpecifierSet
 from packaging.version import InvalidVersion, Version
+
+import thinc
 from thinc.api import (
     Adam,
     Config,
@@ -1111,6 +1112,15 @@ def is_in_jupyter() -> bool:
     return False
 
 
+def is_in_interactive() -> bool:
+    """Check if user is running spaCy from an interactive Python
+    shell. Will return True in Jupyter notebooks too.
+    RETURNS (bool): True if in interactive mode, False if not.
+    """
+    # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2356399/tell-if-python-is-in-interactive-mode
+    return hasattr(sys, "ps1") or hasattr(sys, "ps2")
+
+
 def get_object_name(obj: Any) -> str:
     """Get a human-readable name of a Python object, e.g. a pipeline component.