Ronan O'Gara kicked Munster to Heineken Cup glory for the second time in three years.
The Munster No. 10 landed three penalties and converted a Denis Leamy try to repeat the triumph the Irishmen savoured in the same stadium against Biarritz in 2006.
Munster captain Paul O'Connell paid tribute to his men, saying: "We have an incredible bunch of people and you feel a pressure when you wear the jersey.
"It was tough campaign and it it just incredible. We have shown bottle and courage and great mental strength today."
The sides were locked at 13-13 but the tireless Munster pack shoved Toulouse into giving away the vital penalty which O'Gara kept his nerve to land.
Earlier, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde stroked a drop goal for Toulouse but two other kicks flew wide as the French side failed to turn control into points.
Munster clung on and as their back row began to flex their muscles No.8 Leamy grabbed the vital first try after 32 minutes when the hole had been opened by the rest of his pack.
O'Gara converted to put Munster 7-3 ahead and when Fabien Pelous gave away a penalty the Ireland fly-half added the kick.
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An Elissalde penalty in first-half injury time kept it tight but Munster were given a huge boost 10 minutes into the second-half when Toulouse skipper Pelous was caught aiming a sly kick up the backside of flanker Alan Quinlan after the whistle.
Pelous was sent to the sin-bin and O'Gara struck the penalty to make it 13-6.
A brilliant piece of counter-attacking from France full-back Cedric Heymans from deep caught out Munster and when the ball was hacked on it fell for Yves Donguy to score.
Elissalde's conversion made it 13-13 to set up a nail-biting finish.
SCORERS
Munster: Tries: Leamy, Conversions: O'Gara, Penalties: O'Gara 3
Toulouse: Tries: Donguy, Conversions: Elissalde, Penalties: Elissalde, Drop goals: Elissalde
