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Contents

Fund Summaries

Overview

Fund Details

Additional Information, All Funds

Distributions and Taxes

Fund Account Information

For More Information

Back Cover

FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN ALLOCATION VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Capital appreciation. Its secondary goal is income.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. Total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

^3. The investment manager has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse operating expenses (excluding Rule 12b-1 fees and certain non-routine expenses or costs, such as those relating to litigation, indemnification, reorganizations and liquidations) for the Fund so that the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses will not exceed 0.57% for each share class. The investment manager has also agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds. These arrangements are expected to continue until April 30, 2024. During the terms, the fee waiver and expense reimbursement agreements may not be terminated or amended without approval of the board of trustees except to add series or classes, to reflect the extension of termination dates or to lower the waiver and expense limitation (which would result in lower fees for shareholders).

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 107.31% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment goals by allocating its assets among the broad asset classes of equity and fixed income investments through a variety of investment strategies or “sleeves” managed by the investment manager or its affiliates. The Fund is structured as a multi-manager fund (meaning the Fund’s assets are managed by multiple sub-advisors), with the investment manager having overall responsibility for the Fund’s investments. The investment manager allocates assets among various asset classes and strategy sleeves to seek to diversify the Fund’s portfolio, to add incremental return, and to reduce the Fund’s risk of being significantly impacted by changes in a specific asset class or by changing market conditions. The investment manager may, at times, implement a risk overlay strategy, which seeks to neutralize certain market risks that may exist in the Fund primarily through the use of equity and interest rate/bond futures.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund allocates approximately 60% of its assets to the equity asset class and 40% of its assets to the fixed income asset class by allocating the Fund’s assets among the various sleeves. The Fund’s asset allocation may change from time to time based on market conditions and the investment manager’s strategic and tactical asset allocation views. The Fund’s equity and fixed income investments typically will not vary by more than 5% from the stated allocations; however, appreciation and/or depreciation in the value of the Fund’s investments may cause the relative percentages to vary by more than 5%. The investment manager rebalances the

FUND SUMMARIES

Fund's portfolio to bring the Fund back to its typical allocation on a periodic basis, typically when market values deviate from target weights beyond predefined thresholds or when the manager’s view on asset classes changes. In addition, during adverse market conditions, the investment manager, in its sole discretion, may tactically manage the Fund’s risk exposure on a Fund level, which could cause the Fund’s allocations to vary by more than 5% from the stated allocations. The investment manager uses a variety of techniques to adjust the Fund’s exposure to certain asset classes to manage risk including allocating additional assets or reducing assets allocated to certain sleeves, holding additional cash and cash equivalents in the Fund’s portfolio, or using certain equity, interest rate and currency derivative instruments.

The Fund may invest in securities of U.S. and foreign companies in both the equity and fixed income sleeves, although the Fund currently does not anticipate investing more than 30% of its net assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States. Through its sleeves, the Fund may invest in a variety of equity securities of any capitalization size and a variety of government and corporate fixed income investments that have variable or fixed interest rates and may be of any duration or maturity. In addition, the portfolio managers of the Fund's sleeves may focus on investing in fixed income securities that could include bonds, notes, debentures, banker’s acceptances and commercial paper; loans and loan participations; floating rate notes and mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities. The Fund may also invest a small portion of its assets in other mutual funds, which include other Franklin Templeton mutual funds, and Franklin Templeton and third-party exchange-traded funds (ETFs) (underlying funds), in order to gain exposure to certain asset classes or for tactical positioning. The Fund generally invests in investment grade debt securities, but may invest a small portion of its total assets in bonds rated below investment grade.

The Fund regularly uses currency-related derivatives, including forward foreign currency exchange contracts, currency futures contracts, currency swaps and currency options to hedge (protect) against currency risks. The Fund also may, from time to time, use a variety of equity-related derivatives, which may include purchasing or selling call and put options on equity securities and equity security indices, futures on equity securities and equity indexes and options on equity index futures, for various purposes including enhancing Fund returns, increasing liquidity, gaining exposure to particular instruments in more efficient or less expensive ways and/or hedging risks relating to changes in certain equity markets. In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, use interest rate and credit derivatives, including interest rate swaps, interest rate/bond futures contracts and credit default swaps for various purposes including enhancing Fund returns, increasing liquidity, gaining exposure to particular instruments in more efficient or less expensive ways and/or hedging risks relating to changes in interest rates. The use of such derivative transactions may allow the Fund to obtain net long or net short exposures to selected markets, interest rates, countries, currencies or durations. The investment manager’s risk overlay strategy may involve investing in derivatives in an effort to provide a hedge against negative market events. When implemented, the risk overlay strategy will reduce the Fund's ability to benefit from positive market movements.

In determining an optimal mix of the equity and fixed income asset classes for the Fund, the investment manager assesses changing economic, market and industry conditions. The investment manager allocates among strategy sleeves utilizing a top-down approach, generating the Fund's strategy weightings by taking into account market conditions, risk factors, diversification, liquidity, transparency and other investment options, among other things.

Allocations to the individually managed sleeves discussed below typically will not exceed 20%, but will vary with market conditions; however, under normal market conditions, no sleeve constitutes a majority of the Fund’s assets. The investment manager may select additional Franklin Templeton strategies for investment, other than those listed below, without notice to, or approval by, shareholders. Unless indicated, the individual strategy sleeves are managed by the investment manager.

ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy. The strategy seeks long-term growth of capital by taking a concentrated, long-term approach to generating growth by owning three types of growth companies across the spectrum of growth and volatility that can thrive through varying market environments.

ClearBridge Large Cap Value Strategy. The strategy seeks long-term growth of capital by exploiting market inefficiencies to identify strong businesses at attractive valuations that it can hold for long time periods.

Franklin Emerging Markets Core Equity Strategy. This strategy seeks capital appreciation by investing in equity securities of issuers located in “emerging market countries”. The investable universe typically includes equity securities of companies in the MSCI Emerging Market Equity Index. The investment manager uses a multi-factor process to determine securities that have favorable exposure to quality, value and momentum.

Franklin International Core Equity Strategy. This strategy seeks capital appreciation by investing predominately in non-U.S. equity securities of any capitalization. The investible universe typically includes both growth and value companies in the MSCI EAFE index. The investment manager uses a multi-factor process to determine securities that have favorable exposure to quality, value and momentum.

Franklin International Growth Strategy. The strategy seeks capital appreciation by investing predominantly in the equity securities of mid-and large capitalization companies outside the U.S. with long-term growth potential.

Franklin U.S. Core Equity Strategy. This strategy seeks capital appreciation by investing in U.S. equity securities.

FUND SUMMARIES

The investable universe typically includes equity securities of companies in the Russell 1000 Index. The investment manager uses a multi-factor process to determine securities that have favorable exposure to quality, value and momentum.

Franklin U.S. Smart Beta Equity Strategy. The strategy seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing substantially in U.S. equities using a proprietary, systematic model to screen, weigh and select securities, starting with those in a broad-market U.S. equity index (currently the Russell 1000 Index).

Templeton Foreign Strategy. The strategy seeks long-term capital growth by investing predominantly in foreign securities which are predominantly equity securities of companies located outside of the U.S., including developing markets.

Brandywine Global Opportunities Bond Strategy. The strategy seeks to maximize total return by investing at least 80% of its net assets in fixed income securities of issuers located in developed market countries. The Fund will invest in both investment grade and below investment grade fixed income securities.

Franklin Investment Grade Corporate Strategy. The strategy seeks as high a level of current income as is consistent with prudent investing, while seeking preservation of capital, by investing predominantly in investment grade corporate debt securities and investments.

Franklin U.S. Core Bond Strategy. This strategy seeks total return by investing substantially in bonds of U.S. issuers, including government, corporate debt, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. The strategy focuses predominately on investment grade debt securities and is generally expected to have sector, credit and duration exposures comparable to the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.

Franklin U.S. Treasury Securities Strategy. This strategy seeks income by investing in direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury of any maturity and investments that provide exposure to direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury.

Western Asset Core Bond Strategy. The strategy seeks to maximize total return, consistent with prudent investment management and liquidity needs, by targeting a dollar weighted average effective duration range within 20% of the average duration of the estimated domestic bond market. The Fund invests in a portfolio of fixed income securities of various maturities and, under normal market conditions, will invest at least 80% of its net assets, including the amount of borrowing for investment purposes, if any, in debt and fixed income securities.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Management and Asset Allocation  The Fund is actively managed and could experience losses if the investment manager's or sub-advisors' judgment about markets, future volatility, interest rates, industries, sectors and regions or the attractiveness, relative values, liquidity, effectiveness or potential appreciation of particular investments made for the Fund’s portfolio prove to be incorrect. The investment manager's allocation of Fund assets among different asset classes and strategy sleeves investments may not prove beneficial in light of subsequent market events. There can be no guarantee that these techniques or the investment manager's or sub-advisors' investment decisions will produce the desired results.

The investment manager and sub-advisors may use modeling systems to implement one or more investment strategies for the Fund. There is no assurance that the modeling systems are complete or accurate, or representative of future market cycles, nor will they necessarily be beneficial to the Fund even if they are accurate. They may negatively affect Fund performance and the ability of the Fund to meet its investment goal for various reasons including human judgment, inaccuracy of historical data and non-quantitative factors (such as market or trading system dysfunctions, investor fear or over-reaction).

Growth Style Investing Growth stock prices reflect projections of future earnings or revenues, and can, therefore, fall dramatically if the company fails to meet those projections. Prices of these companies’ securities may be more volatile than other securities, particularly over the short term. In addition, investment styles can go in and out of

FUND SUMMARIES

favor, which could cause additional volatility in the prices of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies. The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.

Currency Management Strategies Currency management strategies may substantially change the Fund’s exposure to currency exchange rates and could result in losses to the Fund if currencies do not perform as the investment manager expects. In addition, currency management strategies, to the extent that they reduce the Fund’s exposure to currency risks, also reduce the Fund’s ability to benefit from favorable changes in currency exchange rates. Using currency management strategies for purposes other than hedging further increases the Fund’s exposure to foreign investment losses. Currency markets generally are not as regulated as securities markets. In addition, currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time, and can reduce returns.

Small and Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small and mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve additional risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Interest Rate When interest rates rise, debt security prices generally fall. The opposite is also generally true: debt security prices rise when interest rates fall. Interest rate changes are influenced by a number of factors, including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply of and demand for bonds. In general, securities with longer maturities or durations are more sensitive to interest rate changes.

Credit An issuer of debt securities may fail to make interest payments or repay principal when due, in whole or in part. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's or government's credit rating may affect a security's value.

Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to their underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund's portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that exceeds the Fund's initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. With over-the-counter derivatives, there is the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform.

Income The Fund's distributions to shareholders may decline when prevailing interest rates fall, when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds or when the Fund realizes a loss upon the sale of a debt security.

Mortgage Securities and Asset-Backed Securities Mortgage securities differ from conventional debt securities because principal is paid back periodically over the life of the security rather than at maturity. The Fund may receive unscheduled payments of principal due to voluntary prepayments, refinancings or foreclosures on the underlying mortgage loans. Because of prepayments, mortgage securities may be less effective than some other types of debt securities as a means of "locking in" long-term interest rates and may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of falling interest rates. A reduction in the anticipated rate of principal prepayments, especially during periods of rising interest rates, may increase or extend the effective maturity of mortgage securities, making them more sensitive to interest rate changes, subject to greater price volatility, and more susceptible than some other debt securities to a decline in market value when interest rates rise.

Issuers of asset-backed securities may have limited ability to enforce the security interest in the underlying assets, and credit enhancements provided to support the securities, if any, may be inadequate to protect investors in the event of default. Like mortgage securities, asset-backed securities are subject to prepayment and extension risks.

Prepayment Prepayment risk occurs when a debt security can be repaid in whole or in part prior to the security's maturity and the Fund must reinvest the proceeds it receives, during periods of declining interest rates, in securities that pay a lower rate of interest. Also, if a security has been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment. Prepayments generally increase when interest rates fall.

FUND SUMMARIES

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Floating Rate Corporate Investments   Floating rate corporate loans and corporate debt securities generally have credit ratings below investment grade and may be subject to resale restrictions. They are often issued in connection with highly leveraged transactions, and may be subject to greater credit risks than other investments including the possibility of default or bankruptcy. In addition, a secondary market in corporate loans may be subject to irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods, which may impair the ability to accurately value existing and prospective investments and to realize in a timely fashion the full value upon the sale of a corporate loan. A significant portion of floating rate investments may be “covenant lite” loans that may contain fewer or less restrictive constraints on the borrower or other borrower-friendly characteristics.

Investing in Underlying Investment Companies To the extent the Fund invests in underlying investment companies, including ETFs, the Fund’s performance is related to the performance of the underlying investment companies held by it. In addition, shareholders of the Fund will indirectly bear the fees and expenses of the underlying investment companies and such investments may be more costly than if the Fund had owned the underlying securities directly. In addition, the Fund pays brokerage commissions in connection with the purchase and sale of shares of ETFs.

Liquidity From time to time, the trading market for a particular security or type of security or other investments in which the Fund invests may become less liquid or even illiquid. Reduced liquidity will have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to sell such securities or other investments when necessary to meet the Fund’s liquidity needs, which may arise or increase in response to a specific economic event or because the investment manager wishes to purchase particular investments or believes that a higher level of liquidity would be advantageous. Reduced liquidity will also generally lower the value of such securities or other investments. Market prices for such securities or other investments may be relatively volatile.

High-Yield Debt Securities Issuers of lower-rated or “high-yield” debt securities (also known as “junk bonds”) are not as strong financially as those issuing higher credit quality debt securities. High-yield debt securities are generally considered predominantly speculative by the applicable rating agencies as their issuers are more likely to encounter financial difficulties because they may be more highly leveraged, or because of other considerations. In addition, high yield debt securities generally are more vulnerable to changes in the relevant economy, such as a recession or a sustained period of rising interest rates, that could affect their ability to make interest and principal payments when due. The prices of high-yield debt securities generally fluctuate more than those of higher credit quality. High-yield debt securities are generally more illiquid (harder to sell) and harder to value.

LIBOR Transition The Fund invests in financial instruments that may have floating or variable rate calculations for payment obligations or financing terms based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which is the benchmark interest rate at which major global banks lent to one another in the international interbank market for short-term loans. In 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced its intention to cease compelling banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR after 2021. Although many LIBOR rates were phased out at the end of 2021 as originally intended, a selection of widely used USD LIBOR rates will continue to be published until June 2023 in order to assist with the transition to an alternative rate. Actions by regulators have resulted in the establishment of alternative reference rates to LIBOR in most major currencies. There can be no guarantee that financial instruments that transition to an alternative reference rate will retain the same value or liquidity as they would otherwise have had.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. On May 1, 2019, the Fund’s investment strategies changed. The performance below prior to May 1, 2019 is attributable to the Fund’s performance before the strategy changes.

The inclusion of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index shows how the Fund’s performance compares to a group of securities in a leading bond index. The inclusion of the MSCI World ex-US Index shows how the Fund's performance compares to a group of securities in a leading international equity index. The Linked Allocation VIP Fund Index, which is comprised of 40% S&P 500^® Index, 40% Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index and 20% MSCI World ex-US Index-NR, is included to show the Fund’s performance against its benchmarks in a way that corresponds to the Fund’s asset allocation.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

No one index is representative of the Fund's portfolio.

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Thomas A. Nelson, CFA
Portfolio Manager of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Wylie Tollette, CFA
Executive Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Jacqueline Kenney, CFA
Portfolio Manager of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since October 2022.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN DYNATECH VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. Total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

^3. The investment manager has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse operating expenses (excluding Rule 12b-1 fees; acquired fund fees and expenses; and certain non-routine expenses or costs, such as those relating to litigation, indemnification, reorganizations and liquidations) for the Fund so that the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses will not exceed 0.71% for each share class. The investment manager has also agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds. These arrangements are expected to continue until April 30, 2024. During the terms, the fee waiver and expense reimbursement agreements may not be terminated or amended without approval of the board of trustees except to add series or classes, to reflect the extension of termination dates or to lower the waiver and expense limitation (which would result in lower fees for shareholders).

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 34.99% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund seeks investments primarily in equity securities of companies that the investment manager believes are leaders in innovation, take advantage of new technologies, have superior management, and benefit from new industry conditions in the dynamically changing global economy. The Fund invests predominantly in common stock.

In pursuing these objectives, the investment manager may invest in companies in any economic sector or of any market capitalization both inside and outside of the United States, including emerging markets. The Fund may also invest in depositary receipts.

Although the investment manager searches for investments across a large number of sectors, it expects to have significant positions in particular sectors. These sectors may include, for example, technology (including software and internet) and health care (including biotechnology). Due to market appreciation, if the market prices of securities held by the Fund rise, the Fund's investment in a sector or the securities of a single company may come to represent a significant portion of the Fund's portfolio. Nevertheless, the investment manager will maintain such a position so long as it believes that the company or sector continues to meet its investment guidelines.

The investment manager uses fundamental, "bottom-up" research to seek companies meeting its criteria of growth potential, quality and valuation. In seeking sustainable growth characteristics, the investment manager looks for companies that it believes can produce sustainable earnings and cash flow growth, evaluating the long term market opportunity and competitive structure of an industry to target

FUND SUMMARIES

leaders and emerging leaders. In assessing value, the investment manager considers whether security prices fully reflect the balance of the sustainable growth opportunities relative to business and financial risks.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Growth Style Investing Growth stock prices reflect projections of future earnings or revenues, and can, therefore, fall dramatically if the company fails to meet those projections. Prices of these companies’ securities may be more volatile than other securities, particularly over the short term. In addition, investment styles can go in and out of favor, which could cause additional volatility in the prices of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.

Focus The technology sector has historically been volatile due to the rapid pace of product change and development within the sector. Companies in the technology sector may be affected by worldwide technological developments, the success of their products and services (which may be outdated quickly), anticipated products or services that are delayed or cancelled, and investor perception of the company and/or its products or services. The activities of health care companies may be funded or subsidized by federal and state governments and changes in funding may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Technology and health care companies may also be affected by legislation or changes in government regulation and policies.

Small and Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small and mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve additional risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations. The risks of investing in foreign securities are typically greater in less developed or emerging market countries.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to

FUND SUMMARIES

a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. On May 1, 2021, the Fund’s investment strategies changed. The performance below prior to May 1, 2021 is attributable to the Fund’s performance before the strategy changes.

The inclusion of the S&P 500^® Index shows how the Fund's performance compares to a group of securities in an additional leading stock index.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

No one index is representative of the Fund's portfolio.

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Manager

Matthew J. Moberg, CPA
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2005).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN GLOBAL REAL ESTATE VIP FUND

Investment Goal

High total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. The investment manager has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse operating expenses (excluding Rule 12b-1 fees; acquired fund fees and expenses; and certain non-routine expenses or costs, such as those relating to litigation, indemnification, reorganizations and liquidations) for the Fund so that the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses will not exceed 1.00% for each share class. The investment manager has also agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds. These arrangements are expected to continue until April 30, 2024. During the terms, the fee waiver and expense reimbursement agreements may not be terminated or amended without approval of the board of trustees except to add series or classes, to reflect the extension of termination dates or to lower the waiver and expense limitation (which would result in lower fees for shareholders).

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 15.44% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in investments of companies located anywhere in the world that operate in the real estate sector. These companies include real estate investment trusts (REITs) and similar REIT-like entities domiciled outside the U.S.; companies qualifying under U.S. federal tax law as REITs; and companies that derive at least half of their assets or revenues from the ownership, management, development or sale of residential or commercial real estate (such as real estate operating or service companies). Under normal market conditions, the Fund expects to invest at least 40% of its net assets in foreign securities (including emerging markets securities), unless market conditions are not deemed favorable by the investment manager, in which case the Fund expects to invest at least 30% of its net assets in foreign securities.

A REIT is a type of real estate company that is dedicated to owning and usually operating income-producing real estate such as apartments, hotels, industrial properties, office building or shopping centers. REITs typically concentrate on a specific geographic region or property type. The Fund may also invest in issuers engaged in businesses whose products and services are related to the real estate sector.

The Fund currently expects to be invested predominantly in equity securities, primarily common stocks. Although the Fund generally does not hedge its foreign currency exposure, currency-related derivative instruments such as forward currency exchange contracts may be used from time-to-time to help manage currency risks and manage local currency exposure.

The investment manager seeks to limit price volatility by investing across markets and property types. When selecting investments for the Fund’s portfolio, the investment

FUND SUMMARIES

manager applies a “bottom-up" stock selection process that incorporates macro-level views in the evaluation process. The investment manager’s portfolio construction process combines: bottom-up analysis of individual stock and real estate market fundamentals; and top-down macro overlays to provide country/regional, property type, and company size perspectives in identifying international/local cyclical and thematic trends that highlight investment opportunities.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Real Estate Securities By concentrating in the real estate industry, the Fund carries much greater risk of adverse developments in the real estate industry than a fund that invests in a wide variety of industries. Because the Fund concentrates in the real estate industry, there is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for real estate securities. To the extent that the Fund focuses on a particular geographical region of a country, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in that area than a fund that does not focus its investments in a particular region. Real estate values rise and fall in response to a variety of factors, including: local, regional, national and global economic conditions; interest rates; tax and insurance considerations; changes in zoning and other property-related laws; environmental regulations or hazards; overbuilding; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; or value decline in a neighborhood. When economic growth is slow, demand for property decreases and prices may decline.

REITs A REIT's performance depends on the types, values and locations of the properties and companies it owns and how well those properties and companies are managed. A decline in rental income may occur because of extended vacancies, increased competition from other properties, tenants' failure to pay rent or poor management. Because a REIT may be invested in a limited number of projects or in a particular market segment, it may be more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than more broadly diversified investments. Loss of status as a qualified REIT under the U.S. federal tax laws could adversely affect the value of a particular REIT or the market for REITs as a whole. These risks may also apply to securities of REIT-like entities domiciled outside the U.S.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies. The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Liquidity From time to time, the trading market for a particular security or type of security or other investments in which the Fund invests may become less liquid or even illiquid. Reduced liquidity will have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to sell such securities or other investments when necessary to meet the Fund’s liquidity needs, which may arise or increase in response to a specific economic event or because the investment manager wishes to purchase particular investments or believes that a higher level of liquidity would be advantageous. Reduced liquidity will also generally lower the value of such securities or other investments. Market prices for such securities or other investments may be relatively volatile.

Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to their underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund's portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in

FUND SUMMARIES

losses (as well as gains) in an amount that exceeds the Fund's initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. With over-the-counter derivatives, there is the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Daniel Scher

Vice President of Advisers and co-lead portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Blair Schmicker, CFA

Vice President of Advisers and co-lead portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN GROWTH AND INCOME VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Capital appreciation. Its secondary goal is current income.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. The investment manager has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse operating expenses (excluding Rule 12b-1 fees; acquired fund fees and expenses; and certain non-routine expenses or costs, such as those relating to litigation, indemnification, reorganizations and liquidations) for the Fund so that the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses will not exceed 0.59% for each share class. The investment manager has also agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds. These arrangements are expected to continue until April 30, 2024. During the terms, the fee waiver and expense reimbursement agreements may not be terminated or amended without approval of the board of trustees except to add series or classes, to reflect the extension of termination dates or to lower the waiver and expense limitation (which would result in lower fees for shareholders).

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 30.16% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal conditions, the Fund invests predominantly in equity securities, including common stock, preferred stock and securities convertible into common stocks. The Fund generally invests predominantly in common stocks, and the remainder of its net assets in other equity-related instruments such as convertible securities and equity-linked notes (ELNs). The Fund does not currently anticipate investing more than 15% of its net assets in foreign securities.

While the Fund does not concentrate in any one industry, from time to time, based on economic conditions, it may make significant investments in certain sectors.

The Fund’s strategy is to invest in a broadly diversified portfolio of equity securities that the Fund’s investment manager considers to be financially strong, with a focus on "blue chip" companies. The investment manager applies a "bottom-up" approach to investing in individual securities. The investment manager will assess the market price of a company's securities relative to the investment manager's evaluation of the company's long-term earnings, cash flow potential and balance sheet strength. The investment manager also considers various financial metrics, including a company's price/earnings ratio, return on capital, profit margins and asset value. The Fund’s investment manager considers dividend yield and the opportunity for dividend growth in selecting stocks for the Fund because the investment manager believes that, over time, dividend income can contribute significantly to total return and can be a more consistent source of investment return than capital appreciation.

FUND SUMMARIES

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Blend Style Investing  A “blend” strategy results in investments in both value and growth stocks, or in stocks with characteristics of both. If other investors fail to recognize the company's value, or favor investing in faster-growing companies, value stocks may not increase in value as anticipated by the Fund's investment manager or may decline even further. With respect to growth stocks, stock prices reflect projections of future earnings or revenues and can fall dramatically if the company fails to meet those projections.

Income Because the Fund can only distribute what it earns, the Fund’s distributions to shareholders may decline when dividend income from investments in stocks decline or when prevailing interest rates fall.

Equity-Linked Notes (ELNs) Investments in ELNs often have risks similar to their underlying securities, which could include management risk, market risk and, as applicable, foreign securities and currency risks. In addition, since ELNs are in note form, ELNs are also subject to certain debt securities risks, such as interest rate and credit risks. Should the prices of the underlying securities move in an unexpected manner, the Fund may not achieve the anticipated benefits of an investment in an ELN, and may realize losses, which could be significant and could include the Fund’s entire principal investment. An investment in an ELN is also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the issuer of the ELN will default or become bankrupt and the Fund will have difficulty being repaid, or fail to be repaid, the principal amount of, or income from, its investment. Investments in ELNs are also subject to liquidity risk, which may make ELNs difficult to sell and value. In addition, ELNs may exhibit price behavior that does not correlate with the underlying securities or a fixed-income investment.

Convertible Securities Convertible securities are subject to the risks of stocks when the underlying stock price is high relative to the conversion price (because more of the security's value resides in the conversion feature) and debt securities when the underlying stock price is low relative to the conversion price (because the conversion feature is less valuable). A convertible security is not as sensitive to interest rate changes as a similar non-convertible debt security, and generally has less potential for gain or loss than the underlying stock.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations.

Credit An issuer of debt securities may fail to make interest payments or repay principal when due, in whole or in part. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's or government's credit rating may affect a security's value.

Interest Rate Common stocks with higher dividend yields can be sensitive to interest rate movements: when interest rates rise, the prices of these stocks may tend to fall. The opposite can also be true: the prices of higher yielding stocks may tend to rise when interest rates fall. Interest rate changes can be sudden and unpredictable and are influenced by a number of factors including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply and demand of bonds. Increases in interest rates may also have a negative effect on the types of companies in which the Fund normally invests because these companies may find it more difficult to obtain credit to expand, may have more difficulty meeting interest payments or may pay lower dividends due to the higher costs of borrowing.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

FUND SUMMARIES

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

The secondary index in the table below shows how the Fund's performance compares to a group of securities that reflects the broader equity markets universe.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

No one index is representative of the Fund's portfolio.

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Matthew D. Quinlan 
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2011.

Alan E. Muschott, CFA 
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2005.

Todd Brighton, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2016.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN INCOME VIP FUND

Investment Goal

To maximize income while maintaining prospects for capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 64.51% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of debt and equity securities. The Fund may shift its investments from one asset class to another based on the investment manager's analysis of the best opportunities for the Fund’s portfolio in a given market. The equity securities in which the Fund invests consist primarily of common stocks. Debt securities include all varieties of fixed, floating and variable rate instruments, including secured and unsecured bonds, bonds convertible into common stock, senior floating rate and term loans, mortgage-backed securities and other asset-backed securities, debentures, and shorter term instruments. The Fund seeks income by selecting investments such as corporate, foreign and U.S. Treasury bonds, as well as stocks with dividend yields the investment manager believes are attractive. The Fund may invest up to 100% of its total assets in debt securities that are rated below investment grade (also known as "junk bonds"), including a portion in defaulted securities. The Fund maintains the flexibility to invest in securities of companies from a variety of sectors, but from time to time, based on economic conditions, the Fund may have significant investments in particular sectors. The Fund may also invest up to 25% of its assets in foreign securities, either directly or through depositary receipts.

The Fund may, from time to time, use a variety of equity-related derivatives and complex equity securities, which may include purchasing or selling call and put options on equity securities and equity security indices, futures on equity securities and equity indexes and options on equity index futures. The Fund also regularly invests in equity linked notes. The Fund may use such equity-related derivatives for various purposes including enhancing Fund returns, increasing liquidity, gaining exposure to particular instruments in more efficient or less expensive ways and/or hedging risks relating to changes in certain equity markets. In addition, the Fund may use interest rate-related derivatives, including interest rate swaps and interest rate and/or bond futures contracts (including U.S. Treasury futures contracts) for various purposes including enhancing Fund returns, increasing liquidity, gaining exposure to particular instruments in more efficient or less expensive ways and/or hedging risks relating to changes in interest rates. The Fund also may, from time to time, use currency-related derivatives, such as forward foreign currency exchange contracts, currency futures contracts, currency swaps and currency options to hedge (protect) against currency risks, and credit-related derivatives, such as credit default swaps and options on credit default swaps, to hedge (protect) against credit risks. The use of such derivative

FUND SUMMARIES

transactions may allow the Fund to obtain net long or net short exposures to selected markets, interest rates, countries or durations.

The Fund's investment manager searches for undervalued or out-of-favor securities it believes offer opportunities for income today and significant growth tomorrow. In analyzing both corporate debt and equity securities, the investment manager considers a variety of factors, including:

· a security's relative value based on such factors as anticipated cash flow, interest or dividend coverage, asset coverage, and earnings prospects;

· the experience and strength of the company's management;

· the company's changing financial condition and market recognition of the change;

· the company's sensitivity to changes in interest rates and business conditions; and

· the company's debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements.

When choosing investments for the Fund, the investment manager applies a "bottom-up," value oriented, long-term approach, focusing on the market price of a company's securities relative to the investment manager's evaluation of the company's long-term earnings, asset value and cash flow potential. The investment manager also considers a company's price/earnings ratio, profit margins and liquidation value. It generally performs independent analysis of the debt securities being considered for the Fund's portfolio, rather than relying principally on the ratings assigned by rating organizations.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Interest Rate When interest rates rise, debt security prices generally fall. The opposite is also generally true: debt security prices rise when interest rates fall. Interest rate changes are influenced by a number of factors, including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply of and demand for bonds. In general, securities with longer maturities or durations are more sensitive to interest rate changes.

Credit An issuer of debt securities may fail to make interest payments or repay principal when due, in whole or in part. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's or government's credit rating may affect a security's value.

High-Yield Debt Securities Issuers of lower-rated or “high-yield” debt securities (also known as “junk bonds”) are not as strong financially as those issuing higher credit quality debt securities. High-yield debt securities are generally considered predominantly speculative by the applicable rating agencies as their issuers are more likely to encounter financial difficulties because they may be more highly leveraged, or because of other considerations. In addition, high yield debt securities generally are more vulnerable to changes in the relevant economy, such as a recession or a sustained period of rising interest rates, that could affect their ability to make interest and principal payments when due. The prices of high-yield debt securities generally fluctuate more than those of higher credit quality. High-yield debt securities are generally more illiquid (harder to sell) and harder to value.

Income The Fund's distributions to shareholders may decline when prevailing interest rates fall, when dividend income from investments in stocks decline, when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds or when the Fund realizes a loss upon the sale of a debt security.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Equity-Linked Notes (ELNs)  ELNs may not perform as expected and could cause the Fund to realize significant losses including its entire principal investment. Other risks include counterparty risk, liquidity risk and imperfect correlation between ELNs and the underlying securities.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates

FUND SUMMARIES

and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations.

Depositary Receipts Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks of the underlying securities. For some depositary receipts, the custodian or similar financial institution that holds the issuer's shares in a trust account is located in the issuer's home country. In these cases if the issuer’s home country does not have developed financial markets, the Fund could be exposed to the credit risk of the custodian or financial institution and greater market risk. In addition, the depository institution may not have physical custody of the underlying securities at all times and may charge fees for various services. The Fund may experience delays in receiving its dividend and interest payments or exercising rights as a shareholder. There may be an increased possibility of untimely responses to certain corporate actions of the issuer in an unsponsored depositary receipt program. Accordingly, there may be less information available regarding issuers of securities underlying unsponsored programs and there may not be a correlation between this information and the market value of the depositary receipts.

Mortgage Securities Mortgage securities differ from conventional debt securities because principal is paid back periodically over the life of the security rather than at maturity. The Fund may receive unscheduled payments of principal due to voluntary prepayments, refinancings or foreclosures on the underlying mortgage loans. Because of prepayments, mortgage securities may be less effective than some other types of debt securities as a means of "locking in" long-term interest rates and may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of falling interest rates. A reduction in the anticipated rate of principal prepayments, especially during periods of rising interest rates, may increase or extend the effective maturity of mortgage securities, making them more sensitive to interest rate changes, subject to greater price volatility, and more susceptible than some other debt securities to a decline in market value when interest rates rise.

Convertible Securities Convertible securities are subject to the risks of stocks when the underlying stock price is high relative to the conversion price (because more of the security's value resides in the conversion feature) and debt securities when the underlying stock price is low relative to the conversion price (because the conversion feature is less valuable). A convertible security is not as sensitive to interest rate changes as a similar non-convertible debt security, and generally has less potential for gain or loss than the underlying stock.

LIBOR Transition The Fund invests in financial instruments that may have floating or variable rate calculations for payment obligations or financing terms based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which is the benchmark interest rate at which major global banks lent to one another in the international interbank market for short-term loans. In 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced its intention to cease compelling banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR after 2021. Although many LIBOR rates were phased out at the end of 2021 as originally intended, a selection of widely used USD LIBOR rates will continue to be published until June 2023 in order to assist with the transition to an alternative rate. Actions by regulators have resulted in the establishment of alternative reference rates to LIBOR in most major currencies. There can be no guarantee that financial instruments that transition to an alternative reference rate will retain the same value or liquidity as they would otherwise have had.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Value Style Investing  A value stock may not increase in price as anticipated by the investment manager if other investors fail to recognize the company's value and bid up the price, the markets favor faster-growing companies, or the factors that the investment manager believes will increase the price of the security do not occur or do not have the anticipated effect.

Prepayment Prepayment risk occurs when a debt security can be repaid in whole or in part prior to the security's maturity and the Fund must reinvest the proceeds it receives, during periods of declining interest rates, in securities that pay a lower rate of interest. Also, if a security has been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment. Prepayments generally increase when interest rates fall.

Liquidity From time to time, the trading market for a particular security or type of security or other investments in which the Fund invests may become less liquid or even illiquid. Reduced liquidity will have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to sell such securities or other investments when necessary to meet the Fund’s liquidity needs, which may arise or increase in response to a specific economic event or because the investment manager wishes to purchase particular investments or believes that a higher level of liquidity would be advantageous. Reduced liquidity will also generally lower the value of such securities or other investments. Market prices for such securities or other investments may be relatively volatile.

Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to their underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund's portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that exceeds the Fund's initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument,

FUND SUMMARIES

and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. With over-the-counter derivatives, there is the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

The Blended Benchmark, which consists of 50% MSCI USA High Dividend Yield Index, plus 25% Bloomberg High Yield Very Liquid Index, plus 25% Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index, is included to show how the Fund’s performance compares to a blend of leading indices that aligns more closely with the Fund’s investment strategies. The Blended Benchmark is calculated internally by Franklin Templeton.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

No one index is representative of the Fund's portfolio.

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Edward D. Perks, CFA
President and Director of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2002.

Brendan Circle, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Todd Brighton, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2017.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN LARGE CAP GROWTH VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 14.74% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in investments of large-capitalization (large-cap) companies. Large-cap companies are those with market capitalizations (share price times the number of common stock shares outstanding) within those of the top 50% of companies in the Russell 1000^® Index at the time of purchase. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests predominantly in equity securities, mostly common stocks. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in investments of small to mid-capitalization companies and a small portion of its net assets in foreign securities. Although the Fund seeks investments across a number of sectors, from time to time, based on economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in particular sectors.

The investment manager is a research driven, fundamental investor, pursuing a growth strategy. As a "bottom-up" investor focusing primarily on individual securities, the investment manager seeks companies that have identifiable drivers of future earnings growth and that present, in the investment manager's opinion, the best trade-off between that potential earnings growth, business and financial risk, and valuation.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and

FUND SUMMARIES

disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Growth Style Investing Growth stock prices reflect projections of future earnings or revenues, and can, therefore, fall dramatically if the company fails to meet those projections. Prices of these companies’ securities may be more volatile than other securities, particularly over the short term. In addition, investment styles can go in and out of favor, which could cause additional volatility in the prices of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Small and Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small and mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve additional risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Grant Bowers

Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2014.

Sara Araghi, CFA

Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2016.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN MUTUAL GLOBAL DISCOVERY VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 55.49% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in equity securities (including securities convertible into, or that the investment manager expects to be exchanged for, common or preferred stock) of U.S. and foreign companies that the investment manager believes are available at market prices less than their value based on certain recognized or objective criteria (fundamental value). Following this value-oriented strategy, the Fund invests primarily in undervalued securities (securities trading at a discount to fundamental value). The equity securities in which the Fund invests are primarily common stock. To a lesser extent, the Fund also invests in merger arbitrage securities and the debt and equity of distressed companies.

The Fund is not limited to pre-set maximums or minimums governing the size of the companies in which it may invest. However, the Fund currently invests the equity portion of its portfolio predominantly in mid- and large-cap companies, with the remaining portion of its equity portfolio in smaller companies. While the Fund does not concentrate in any one industry, from time to time, based on economic conditions, it may make significant investments in certain sectors.

The Fund may invest substantially and potentially up to 100% of its assets in foreign securities, which may include sovereign debt and participations in foreign government debt. The Fund presently does not intend to invest more than a portion (no more than 25%) of its assets in securities of issuers located in emerging market countries. Although the investment manager will search for investments across a large number of countries and regions, from time to time, based on economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in particular countries or regions.

The Fund regularly attempts to hedge (protect) against currency risks, largely using currency-related derivatives, such as forward contracts and currency futures contracts (including currency index futures contracts) when, in the investment manager’s opinion, it would be advantageous to the Fund to do so. The Fund may also, from time to time, attempt to hedge against market risk using a variety of other equity- and credit-related derivatives.

Portfolio Selection

The investment manager employs a research driven, fundamental value strategy for the Fund. Investments are generally selected based on the investment manager's own analysis of the security's fundamental value, including for equity securities, an analysis of cash flow potential, long-

FUND SUMMARIES

term earnings, multiples of earnings, book value and fundamental analysis, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations. The investment manager examines each investment separately and there are no set criteria as to specific value parameters, asset size, earnings or industry type. The investment manager does not assess every investment for ESG factors and, when it does, not every ESG factor may be identified or evaluated. For example, the investment manager’s assessment of investments in special situations investments, notably merger arbitrage and distressed debt, generally does not include analysis of ESG factors.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Value Style Investing  A value stock may not increase in price as anticipated by the investment manager if other investors fail to recognize the company's value and bid up the price, the markets favor faster-growing companies, or the factors that the investment manager believes will increase the price of the security do not occur or do not have the anticipated effect.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies. The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.

Regional Focus Because the Fund may invest at least a significant portion of its assets in companies in a specific region, including Europe, the Fund is subject to greater risks of adverse developments in that region and/or the surrounding regions than a fund that is more broadly diversified geographically. Political, social or economic disruptions in the region, even in countries in which the Fund is not invested, may adversely affect the value of investments held by the Fund. Current uncertainty concerning the economic consequences of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 may increase market volatility.

Small and Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small and mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve additional risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to their underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund's portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that exceeds the Fund's initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. With over-the-counter derivatives, there is the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform.

FUND SUMMARIES

Merger Arbitrage Securities and Distressed Companies A merger or other restructuring, or a tender or exchange offer, proposed or pending at the time the Fund invests in merger arbitrage securities may not be completed on the terms or within the time frame contemplated, which may result in losses to the Fund. Debt obligations of distressed companies typically are unrated, lower-rated, in default or close to default and are generally more likely to become worthless than the securities of more financially stable companies.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

ESG Considerations ESG considerations are one of a number of factors that the investment manager examines when considering investments for the Fund’s portfolio. In light of this, the issuers in which the Fund invests may not be considered ESG-focused companies. In addition, ESG considerations assessed as part of the Fund’s investment process may vary across types of eligible investments and issuers. The investment manager does not assess every investment for ESG factors and, when it does, not every ESG factor may be identified or evaluated. The investment manager’s assessment of an issuer may differ from that of investors, third-party service providers, such as ratings providers, and other funds. As a result, securities selected by the investment manager may not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor. The investment manager also may be dependent on the availability of timely, complete and accurate ESG data being reported by issuers and/or third-party research providers to evaluate ESG factors. ESG factors are often not uniformly measured or defined, which could impact the investment manager’s ability to assess an issuer. While the investment manager views ESG considerations as having the potential to contribute to the Fund’s long-term performance, there is no guarantee that such results will be achieved.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC (Franklin Mutual)

Portfolio Managers

Christian Correa, CFA
President of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018.

Katrina Dudley, CFA
Senior Vice President of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2020.

Timothy Rankin, CFA
Senior Vice President of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2010.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN MUTUAL SHARES VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Capital appreciation. Its secondary goal is income.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 59.99% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in equity securities (including securities convertible into, or that the investment manager expects to be exchanged for, common or preferred stock) of U.S. and foreign companies that the investment manager believes are available at market prices less than their value based on certain recognized or objective criteria (fundamental value). Following this value-oriented strategy, the Fund invests primarily in undervalued securities (securities trading at a discount to fundamental value). The equity securities in which the Fund invests are primarily common stock. To a lesser extent, the Fund also invests in merger arbitrage securities and the debt and equity of distressed companies.

The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets (up to 35%) in foreign securities, which may include sovereign debt and participations in foreign government debt. The Fund presently does not intend to invest more than 15% of its assets in foreign securities. Although the investment manager will search for investments across a large number of countries and regions, from time to time, based on economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in particular countries or regions.

The Fund is not limited to pre-set maximums or minimums governing the size of the companies in which it may invest. However, the Fund generally invests the equity portion of its portfolio primarily to predominantly in companies with market capitalizations greater than $5 billion, with a portion or significant amount in smaller companies.

Although the investment manager searches for investments across a large number of sectors, from time to time, based on economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in particular sectors.

The Fund regularly attempts to hedge (protect) against currency risks, largely using currency-related derivatives, such as forward contracts and currency futures contracts (including currency index futures contracts) when, in the investment manager’s opinion, it would be advantageous to the Fund to do so. The Fund may also, from time to time, attempt to hedge against market risk using a variety of other equity- and credit-related derivatives.

Portfolio Selection

The investment manager employs a research driven, fundamental value strategy for the Fund. Investments are generally selected based on the investment manager's own

FUND SUMMARIES

analysis of the security's fundamental value, including for equity securities, an analysis of cash flow potential, long-term earnings, multiples of earnings, book value and fundamental analysis, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations. The investment manager examines each investment separately and there are no set criteria as to specific value parameters, asset size, earnings or industry type. The investment manager does not assess every investment for ESG factors and, when it does, not every ESG factor may be identified or evaluated. For example, the investment manager’s assessment of investments in special situations investments, notably merger arbitrage and distressed debt, generally does not include analysis of ESG factors.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Value Style Investing  A value stock may not increase in price as anticipated by the investment manager if other investors fail to recognize the company's value and bid up the price, the markets favor faster-growing companies, or the factors that the investment manager believes will increase the price of the security do not occur or do not have the anticipated effect.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations.

Small and Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small and mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve additional risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to their underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund's portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that exceeds the Fund's initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. With over-the-counter derivatives, there is the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform.

Merger Arbitrage Securities and Distressed Companies A merger or other restructuring, or a tender or exchange offer, proposed or pending at the time the Fund invests in merger arbitrage securities may not be completed on the terms or within the time frame contemplated, which may result in losses to the Fund. Debt obligations of distressed companies typically are unrated, lower-rated, in default or close to default and are generally more likely to become worthless than the securities of more financially stable companies.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

FUND SUMMARIES

ESG Considerations ESG considerations are one of a number of factors that the investment manager examines when considering investments for the Fund’s portfolio. In light of this, the issuers in which the Fund invests may not be considered ESG-focused companies. In addition, ESG considerations assessed as part of the Fund’s investment process may vary across types of eligible investments and issuers. The investment manager does not assess every investment for ESG factors and, when it does, not every ESG factor may be identified or evaluated. The investment manager’s assessment of an issuer may differ from that of investors, third-party service providers, such as ratings providers, and other funds. As a result, securities selected by the investment manager may not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor. The investment manager also may be dependent on the availability of timely, complete and accurate ESG data being reported by issuers and/or third-party research providers to evaluate ESG factors. ESG factors are often not uniformly measured or defined, which could impact the investment manager’s ability to assess an issuer. While the investment manager views ESG considerations as having the potential to contribute to the Fund’s long-term performance, there is no guarantee that such results will be achieved.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC (Franklin Mutual)

Portfolio Managers

Christian Correa, CFA
President of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2020.

Grace Hoefig
Senior Vice President of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2020.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN RISING DIVIDENDS VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Long-term capital appreciation. Preservation of capital, while not a goal, is also an important consideration.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. Total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

^3. The investment manager has agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 12.59% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of financially sound companies that have paid consistently rising dividends. The Fund invests predominantly in equity securities, mostly common stocks. Companies that have paid consistently rising dividends include those companies that currently pay dividends on their common stocks and have maintained or increased their dividend rate during the last four consecutive years. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 65% of its net assets in securities of companies that have:

· consistently increased dividends in at least 8 out of the last 10 years and have not decreased dividends during that time;

· increased dividends substantially (at least 100%) over the last 10 years;

· reinvested earnings, paying out less than 65% of current earnings in dividends (except for utility companies); and

· either long-term debt that is no more than 50% of total capitalization (except for utility companies) or senior debt that has been rated investment grade by at least one of the major bond rating organizations.

In addition to the criteria above, the investment manager utilizes a comprehensive suite of valuation tools in seeking investments which trade below the investment manager’s view of intrinsic value.

The Fund typically invests the rest of its assets in equity securities of companies that pay dividends but do not meet all of these criteria. The Fund may invest in companies of any size, across the entire market spectrum. Although the

FUND SUMMARIES

investment manager searches for investments that it believes to meet the criteria across all sectors, from time to time, based on economic conditions, the Fund may have significant positions in particular sectors including, for example, technology, industrials and healthcare.

The investment manager is a research driven, fundamental investor. As a "bottom-up" investor focusing primarily on individual securities, the investment manager looks for companies that it believes meet the criteria above and are fundamentally sound and attempts to acquire them at attractive prices. In following these criteria, the Fund does not necessarily focus on companies whose securities pay a high dividend rate but rather on companies that consistently increase their dividends.

The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in foreign securities.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Investing Style The investment manager’s investment selection process focuses on growth oriented companies and incorporates value oriented analysis. Such a strategy results in investments in both growth and value stocks, or in stocks with characteristics of both. Growth stock prices reflect projections of future earnings or revenues and can fall dramatically if the company fails to meet those projections. With respect to value stocks, if other investors fail to recognize the company’s value, or favor investing in faster-growing companies, value stocks may not increase in value as anticipated by the Fund's investment manager or may decline even further.

Dividend-Oriented Companies Companies that have historically paid regular dividends to shareholders may decrease or eliminate dividend payments in the future. A decrease in dividend payments by an issuer may result in a decrease in the value of the issuer’s stock and less available income for the Fund.

Small and Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small and mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve additional risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Technology companies Companies in the technology sector have historically been volatile due to the rapid pace of product change and development within the sector. For example, their products and services may not prove commercially successful or may become obsolete quickly. In addition, delays in or cancellation of the release of anticipated products or services may also affect the price of a technology company’s stock. Technology companies are subject to significant competitive pressures, such as new market entrants, aggressive pricing and tight profit margins. The activities of these companies may also be adversely affected by changes in government regulations, worldwide technological developments or investor perception of a company and/or its products or services. The stock prices of companies operating within this sector may be subject to abrupt or erratic movements.

Industrials Companies The stock prices of companies in the industrials sector are affected by supply and demand both for their specific product or service and for industrials sector products in general. Companies in the industrials sector may be adversely affected by changes in government regulation, world events and economic conditions. In addition, these companies are at risk for environmental damage and product liability claims. Companies in this sector could be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, imposition of export or import controls, increased competition, depletion of resources, technological developments and labor relations.

FUND SUMMARIES

Healthcare Companies   The activities of healthcare companies may be funded or subsidized by federal and state governments. If government funding and subsidies are reduced or discontinued, the profitability of these companies could be adversely affected. Healthcare companies may also be affected by government policies on healthcare reimbursements, regulatory approval for new drugs and medical products, and similar matters. They are also subject to legislative risk, i.e., the risks associated with the reform of the healthcare system through legislation.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Nicholas P. B. Getaz, CFA 
Portfolio Manager of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2014.

Matthew D. Quinlan 
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Amritha Kasturirangan, CFA
Portfolio Manager of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Nayan Sheth, CFA
Portfolio Manager of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN SMALL CAP VALUE VIP FUND

Effective June 20, 2021, the Fund was closed to new insurance company subaccounts. Existing insurance company subaccounts that had open accounts on June 20, 2021 may continue to make additional purchases. The Fund may restrict, reject or cancel any purchase order and reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

Investment Goal

Long-term total return.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. Total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

^3. The investment manager has agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 54.83% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in investments of small-capitalization (small-cap) companies. Small-cap companies are companies with market capitalizations (the total market value of a company’s outstanding stock) not exceeding either: 1) the highest market capitalization in the Russell 2000 Index; or 2) the 12-month average of the highest market capitalization in the Russell 2000 Index, whichever is greater, at the time of purchase. As of the most recent reconstitution, the highest market capitalization in the Russell 2000 Index was $6.4 billion.

The Fund generally invests in equity securities of companies that the Fund’s investment manager believes are undervalued at the time of purchase and have the potential for capital appreciation. The Fund invests predominantly in common stocks. A stock price is undervalued when it trades at less than the price at which the investment manager believes it would trade if the market reflected all factors relating to the company’s worth. Following this strategy, the Fund invests in companies that the investment manager believes have, for example: stock prices that are low relative to current, or historical or future earnings, book value, cash flow or sales; recent sharp price declines but the potential for good long-term earnings prospects; and valuable intangibles not reflected in the stock price. The Fund also may invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs).

The types of companies the Fund may invest in include, among other things, those that may be considered out of favor due to actual or perceived cyclical or secular

FUND SUMMARIES

challenges, or are experiencing temporary setbacks, diminished expectations, mismanagement or undermanagement, or are financially stressed. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) related assessments of companies may also be considered. The investment manager does not assess every investment for ESG factors and, when it does, not every ESG factor may be identified or evaluated.

The Fund, from time to time, may have significant positions in particular sectors, such as financial services companies, industrials, consumer discretionary and technology.

The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in foreign securities.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Small Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve substantial risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Value Style Investing A value stock may not increase in price as anticipated by the investment manager if other investors fail to recognize the company's value and bid up the price, the markets favor faster-growing companies, or the factors that the investment manager believes will increase the price of the security do not occur or do not have the anticipated effect.

Cyclical stocks, which typically follow the cycles of an economy through expansion, peak, recession, and recovery, tend to increase in value more quickly during periods of anticipated economic upturns than non-cyclical stocks, but they also tend to lose value more quickly in periods of anticipated economic downturns. These companies may have relatively weak balance sheets and, during economic downturns, they may have insufficient cash flow to pay their debt obligations and difficulty finding additional financing needed for their operations.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, including risks related to currency exchange rates and policies, country or government specific issues, less favorable trading practices or regulation and greater price volatility. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations.

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) A REIT’s performance depends on the types, values and locations of the properties it owns and how well those properties are managed. A decline in rental income may occur because of extended vacancies, increased competition from other properties, tenants’ failure to pay rent or poor management. Because a REIT may be invested in a limited number of projects or in a particular market segment, it may be more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than more broadly diversified investments. Loss of status as a qualified REIT under the U.S. federal tax laws could adversely affect the value of a particular REIT or the market for REITs as a whole. These risks may also apply to securities of REIT-like entities domiciled outside the U.S.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Financial services companies. Financial services companies are subject to extensive government regulation that may affect their profitability in many ways, including by limiting the amount and types of loans and other commitments they can make, and the interest rates and fees they can charge. A financial services company's profitability, and therefore its stock prices, is especially sensitive to interest rate changes as well as the ability of borrowers to repay their loans. Changing regulations, continuing

FUND SUMMARIES

consolidations, and development of new products and structures all are likely to have a significant impact on financial services companies.

Industrials. The stock prices of companies in the industrials sector are affected by supply and demand both for their specific product or service and for industrials sector products in general. Companies in the industrials sector may be adversely affected by changes in government regulation, world events and economic conditions. In addition, these companies are at risk for environmental damage and product liability claims. Companies in this sector could be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, imposition of export or import controls, increased competition, depletion of resources, technological developments and labor relations.

Consumer discretionary companies. Companies in the consumer discretionary sector could be affected by, among other things, overall economic conditions, interest rates, consumer confidence, and disposable income.

Technology companies. Companies in the technology sector have historically been volatile due to the rapid pace of product change and development within the sector. For example, their products and services may not prove commercially successful or may become obsolete quickly. In addition, delays in or cancellation of the release of anticipated products or services may also affect the price of a technology company’s stock. Technology companies are subject to significant competitive pressures, such as new market entrants, aggressive pricing and tight profit margins. The activities of these companies may also be adversely affected by changes in government regulations, worldwide technological developments or investor perception of a company and/or its products or services. The stock prices of companies operating within this sector may be subject to abrupt or erratic movements.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

ESG Considerations ESG considerations are one of a number of factors that the investment manager examines when considering investments for the Fund’s portfolio. In light of this, the issuers in which the Fund invests may not be considered ESG-focused companies. In addition, ESG considerations assessed as part of the Fund’s investment process may vary across types of eligible investments and issuers. The investment manager does not assess every investment for ESG factors and, when it does, not every ESG factor may be identified or evaluated. The investment manager’s assessment of an issuer may differ from that of investors, third-party service providers, such as ratings providers, and other funds. As a result, securities selected by the investment manager may not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor. The investment manager also may be dependent on the availability of timely, complete and accurate ESG data being reported by issuers and/or third-party research providers to evaluate ESG factors. ESG factors are often not uniformly measured or defined, which could impact the investment manager’s ability to assess an issuer. While the investment manager views ESG considerations as having the potential to contribute to the Fund’s long-term performance, there is no guarantee that such results will be achieved.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC (Franklin Mutual)

Portfolio Managers

Steven Raineri

Portfolio Manager of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2012.

Christopher Meeker, CFA

Portfolio Manager of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2015.

Nicholas Karzon, CFA

Portfolio Manager of Franklin Mutual and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN SMALL-MID CAP GROWTH VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Long-term capital growth.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. Total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

^3. The investment manager has agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 41.30% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in investments of small-capitalization (small-cap) and mid-capitalization (mid-cap) companies. For this Fund, small-cap companies are companies within the market capitalization range of companies in the Russell 2500™ Index, at the time of purchase, and mid-cap companies are companies within the market capitalization range of companies in the Russell Midcap^® Index, at the time of purchase. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests predominantly in equity securities, predominantly in common stock.

The Fund, from time to time, may have significant positions in particular sectors.

The Fund may make private investments in companies whose securities are not publicly traded (including companies that have not yet issued securities publicly in an initial public offering ("IPO")), often in the form of private placements, which are exempt from registration under the federal securities laws and are only sold to certain investors meeting predefined criteria.

The investment manager uses fundamental, "bottom-up" research to seek companies meeting its criteria of growth potential, quality and valuation. In seeking sustainable growth characteristics, the investment manager looks for companies that it believes can produce sustainable earnings and cash flow growth, evaluating the long term market opportunity and competitive structure of an industry to target leaders and emerging leaders. In assessing value, the investment manager considers whether security prices fully reflect the balance of the sustainable growth opportunities relative to business and financial risks.

FUND SUMMARIES

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.

Growth Style Investing Growth stock prices reflect projections of future earnings or revenues, and can, therefore, fall dramatically if the company fails to meet those projections. Prices of these companies’ securities may be more volatile than other securities, particularly over the short term. In addition, investment styles can go in and out of favor, which could cause additional volatility in the prices of the Fund’s portfolio holdings.

Small and Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small and mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve additional risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Liquidity From time to time, the trading market for a particular security or type of security or other investments in which the Fund invests may become less liquid or even illiquid. Reduced liquidity will have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to sell such securities or other investments when necessary to meet the Fund’s liquidity needs, which may arise or increase in response to a specific economic event or because the investment manager wishes to purchase particular investments or believes that a higher level of liquidity would be advantageous. Reduced liquidity will also generally lower the value of such securities or other investments. Market prices for such securities or other investments may be relatively volatile.

Private Company/Private Placement Risk   Investments in the stocks of private companies, including companies that have not yet issued securities publicly in an initial public offering ("IPO"), involve greater risks than investments in stocks of many publicly traded companies. Compared to public companies, there is significantly less information available about private companies and there is no assurance that the information obtained by the Fund is reliable. Investments in private companies and private placements are generally considered to be illiquid and may be difficult to sell at a desirable time or at the prices at which the Fund has valued the investments. Investments in private companies and private placements are typically difficult to value since there are no market prices and less overall financial information available. Difficulty in valuing such investments may make it difficult to accurately determine a Fund's exposure to private investments, which could cause the Fund to invest to a greater extent in illiquid investments and subject the Fund to increased risks. The Fund’s NAV could be adversely affected if the Fund's determinations regarding the value of the Fund's private investments were materially higher than the values that the Fund ultimately realizes upon the disposal of such investments. In addition, private companies may have limited financial resources and may be unable to meet their obligations. Investments in private companies and private placements may involve a high degree of business and financial risk and may result in substantial losses. These factors may have a negative effect on the Fund's performance.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents

FUND SUMMARIES

and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

The inclusion of the S&P 500^® Index shows how the Fund's performance compares to a group of securities in an additional leading stock index.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

No one index is representative of the Fund's portfolio.

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

John P. Scandalios, CFA

Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2016.

Michael McCarthy, CFA

Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 1995.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN STRATEGIC INCOME VIP FUND

Investment Goal

High level of current income. A secondary goal is long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^2. Total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

^3. The investment manager has agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 63.64% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests its assets primarily to predominantly in U.S. and foreign debt securities, including those in emerging markets. Debt securities include all varieties of fixed, variable and floating rate income securities, including bonds, U.S. and foreign government and agency securities, corporate loans (and loan participations) and mortgage-backed securities and other asset-backed securities. The Fund shifts its investments among various classes of debt securities and at any given time may have a substantial amount of its assets invested in any class of debt security.

The Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in high yield, lower-quality debt securities (also known as "junk bonds"). The below-investment grade debt securities in which the Fund invests are generally rated at least Caa by Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) or CCC by S&P Global Ratings (S&P) or are unrated securities the Fund's investment manager determines are of comparable quality.

The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in marketplace loans to consumers and small and mid-sized enterprises or companies (SMEs), which may include loans for individual leases, that may be originated through online lending platforms.

The Fund may invest in many different securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or by non-U.S. governments, or their respective agencies or instrumentalities, including mortgage-backed securities and inflation-indexed securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. Mortgage-backed securities represent an interest in a pool of mortgage loans made by banks and other financial institutions to finance purchases of homes, commercial buildings and other real estate. The individual mortgage

FUND SUMMARIES

loans are packaged or "pooled" together for sale to investors. As the underlying mortgage loans are paid off, investors receive principal and interest payments. These securities may be fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities (ARMS). The Fund may purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities on a delayed delivery or forward commitment basis through the "to-be-announced" (TBA) market. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered must meet specified terms and standards. The Fund may also invest a small portion of its assets directly in mortgage loans.

For purposes of pursuing its investment goals, the Fund regularly enters into various currency-related transactions involving derivative instruments, including currency and cross currency forwards, currency swaps, currency and currency index futures contracts and currency options. The Fund regularly enters into interest rate and credit-related transactions involving derivative instruments, including interest rate, fixed income total return and credit default swaps and bond/interest rate futures contracts. The use of these derivative transactions may allow the Fund to obtain net long or net short exposures to selected currencies, interest rates, countries, durations or credit risks. These derivative instruments may be used for hedging purposes, to enhance Fund returns or to obtain exposure to various market sectors.

The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in complex fixed income securities, such as collateralized debt obligations (“CDOs”), which are generally a type of asset-backed securities. The Fund's investments in CDOs may include investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which are a type of CDO.

The Fund's investment manager is a research driven, fundamental investor that relies on a team of analysts to provide in-depth industry expertise and uses both qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate issuers. The Fund's investment manager is a research driven, fundamental investor that relies on a team of analysts to provide in-depth industry expertise and uses both qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate issuers. The Fund uses an active allocation strategy to try to achieve its investment goals. The investment manager uses a "top-down" analysis of macroeconomic trends combined with a "bottom-up" fundamental analysis of market sectors, industries, and issuers to try to take advantage of varying sector reactions to economic events.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Credit An issuer of debt securities may fail to make interest payments or repay principal when due, in whole or in part. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's or government's credit rating may affect a security's value.

High-Yield Debt Securities Issuers of lower-rated or “high-yield” debt securities (also known as “junk bonds”) are not as strong financially as those issuing higher credit quality debt securities. High-yield debt securities are generally considered predominantly speculative by the applicable rating agencies as their issuers are more likely to encounter financial difficulties because they may be more highly leveraged, or because of other considerations. In addition, high yield debt securities generally are more vulnerable to changes in the relevant economy, such as a recession or a sustained period of rising interest rates, that could affect their ability to make interest and principal payments when due. The prices of high-yield debt securities generally fluctuate more than those of higher credit quality. High-yield debt securities are generally more illiquid (harder to sell) and harder to value.

Interest Rate When interest rates rise, debt security prices generally fall. The opposite is also generally true: debt security prices rise when interest rates fall. Interest rate changes are influenced by a number of factors, including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply of and demand for bonds. In general, securities with longer maturities or durations are more sensitive to interest rate changes.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Income The Fund's distributions to shareholders may decline when prevailing interest rates fall, when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds or when the Fund realizes a loss upon the sale of a debt security.

Variable Rate Securities   Because changes in interest rates on variable rate securities (including floating rate securities) may lag behind changes in market rates, the value of such securities may decline during periods of rising interest rates until their interest rates reset to market rates. During periods of declining interest rates, because the

FUND SUMMARIES

interest rates on variable rate securities generally reset downward, their market value is unlikely to rise to the same extent as the value of comparable fixed rate securities.

Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies. The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.

LIBOR Transition The Fund invests in financial instruments that may have floating or variable rate calculations for payment obligations or financing terms based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which is the benchmark interest rate at which major global banks lent to one another in the international interbank market for short-term loans. In 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced its intention to cease compelling banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR after 2021. Although many LIBOR rates were phased out at the end of 2021 as originally intended, a selection of widely used USD LIBOR rates will continue to be published until June 2023 in order to assist with the transition to an alternative rate. Actions by regulators have resulted in the establishment of alternative reference rates to LIBOR in most major currencies. There can be no guarantee that financial instruments that transition to an alternative reference rate will retain the same value or liquidity as they would otherwise have had.

Sovereign Debt Securities Sovereign debt securities are subject to various risks in addition to those relating to debt securities and foreign investments generally, including, but not limited to, the risk that a governmental entity may be unwilling or unable to pay interest and repay principal on its sovereign debt, or otherwise meet its obligations when due because of cash flow problems, insufficient foreign reserves, the relative size of the debt service burden to the economy as a whole, the government’s policy towards principal international lenders such as the International Monetary Fund, or the political considerations to which the government may be subject. If a sovereign debtor defaults (or threatens to default) on its sovereign debt obligations, the indebtedness may be restructured. Some sovereign debtors have in the past been able to restructure their debt payments without the approval of some or all debt holders or to declare moratoria on payments. In the event of a default on sovereign debt, the Fund may also have limited legal recourse against the defaulting government entity.

Emerging Market Countries The Fund’s investments in emerging market countries are subject to all of the risks of foreign investing generally, and have additional heightened risks due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks to support securities markets, including: delays in settling portfolio securities transactions; currency and capital controls; greater sensitivity to interest rate changes; pervasiveness of corruption and crime; currency exchange rate volatility; and inflation, deflation or currency devaluation.

Floating Rate Corporate Investments   Floating rate corporate loans and corporate debt securities generally have credit ratings below investment grade and may be subject to resale restrictions. They are often issued in connection with highly leveraged transactions, and may be subject to greater credit risks than other investments including the possibility of default or bankruptcy. In addition, a secondary market in corporate loans may be subject to irregular trading activity, wide bid/ask spreads and extended trade settlement periods, which may impair the ability to accurately value existing and prospective investments and to realize in a timely fashion the full value upon the sale of a corporate loan. A significant portion of floating rate investments may be “covenant lite” loans that may contain fewer or less restrictive constraints on the borrower or other borrower-friendly characteristics.

Mortgage Securities and Asset-Backed Securities Mortgage securities differ from conventional debt securities because principal is paid back periodically over the life of the security rather than at maturity. The Fund may receive unscheduled payments of principal due to voluntary prepayments, refinancings or foreclosures on the underlying mortgage loans. Because of prepayments, mortgage securities may be less effective than some other types of debt securities as a means of "locking in" long-term interest rates and may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of falling interest rates. A reduction in the anticipated rate of principal prepayments, especially during periods of rising interest rates, may increase or extend the effective maturity of mortgage securities, making them more sensitive to interest rate changes, subject to greater price volatility, and more susceptible than some other debt securities to a decline in market value when interest rates rise.

Issuers of asset-backed securities may have limited ability to enforce the security interest in the underlying assets, and credit enhancements provided to support the securities, if any, may be inadequate to protect investors in the event of default. Like mortgage securities, asset-backed securities are subject to prepayment and extension risks.

Focus To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors or types of investment from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse developments in such areas of focus than a fund

FUND SUMMARIES

that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.

Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to their underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund's portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that exceeds the Fund's initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. With over-the-counter derivatives, there is the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform.

Inflation The market price of debt securities generally falls as inflation increases because the purchasing power of the future income and repaid principal is expected to be worth less when received by the Fund. Debt securities that pay a fixed rather than variable interest rate are especially vulnerable to inflation risk because variable-rate debt securities may be able to participate, over the long term, in rising interest rates which have historically corresponded with long-term inflationary trends.

Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs)   The risks of an investment in a CDO, a type of asset backed security, and which includes CLOs, depend largely on the type of collateral held by the special purpose entity (SPE) and the tranche of the CDO in which the Fund invests and may be affected by the performance of a CDO's collateral manager. CDOs may be deemed to be illiquid and subject to the Fund’s restrictions on investments in illiquid investments. In addition to the normal risks associated with debt securities and asset backed securities (e.g., interest rate risk, credit risk and default risk), CDOs carry additional risks including, but not limited to: (i) the possibility that distributions from collateral securities will not be adequate to make interest or other payments; (ii) the quality of the collateral may decline in value or quality or go into default or be downgraded; (iii) the Fund may invest in tranches of a CDO that are subordinate to other classes; and (iv) the complex structure of the security may not be fully understood at the time of investment.

Marketplace Loans Marketplace loans are subject to the risks associated with debt investments generally, including but not limited to, interest rate, credit, liquidity, high yield debt, market and income risks. Marketplace loans generally are not rated by rating agencies, are often unsecured, and are highly risky and speculative investments. Lenders and investors, such as the Fund, assume all of the credit risk on the loans they fund or purchase and there are no assurances that payments due on underlying loans will be made. In addition, investments in marketplace loans may be adversely affected if the platform operator or a third-party service provider becomes unable or unwilling to fulfill its obligations in servicing the loans. Moreover, the Fund may have limited information about the underlying marketplace loans and information provided to the platform regarding the loans and the borrowers’ credit information may be incomplete, inaccurate or outdated. It also may be difficult for the Fund to sell an investment in a marketplace loan before maturity at the price at which the Fund believes the loan should be valued because these loans typically are considered by the Fund to be illiquid securities.

Currency Management Strategies Currency management strategies may substantially change the Fund’s exposure to currency exchange rates and could result in losses to the Fund if currencies do not perform as the investment manager expects. In addition, currency management strategies, to the extent that they reduce the Fund’s exposure to currency risks, also reduce the Fund’s ability to benefit from favorable changes in currency exchange rates. Using currency management strategies for purposes other than hedging further increases the Fund’s exposure to foreign investment losses. Currency markets generally are not as regulated as securities markets. In addition, currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time, and can reduce returns.

Liquidity From time to time, the trading market for a particular security or type of security or other investments in which the Fund invests may become less liquid or even illiquid. Reduced liquidity will have an adverse impact on the Fund’s ability to sell such securities or other investments when necessary to meet the Fund’s liquidity needs, which may arise or increase in response to a specific economic event or because the investment manager wishes to purchase particular investments or believes that a higher level of liquidity would be advantageous. Reduced liquidity will also generally lower the value of such securities or other investments. Market prices for such securities or other investments may be relatively volatile.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has

FUND SUMMARIES

limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Sonal Desai, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Director of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2018.

Patrick Klein, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since August 2022.

Patricia O’Connor, CFA
Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2016.

Thomas Runkel, CFA
Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since August 2022.

Benjamin Cryer, CFA
Portfolio Manager of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since August 2022.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN U.S. GOVERNMENT SECURITIES VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Income.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 9.28% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in U.S. government securities. The Fund invests primarily to predominantly in fixed rate and variable rate mortgage-backed securities, a significant to substantial amount of which is in securities issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Maes). Ginnie Maes represent an ownership interest in mortgage loans pooled together for sale to investors to finance purchases of homes. The mortgage loans may have either fixed or adjustable interest rates. As the underlying mortgage loans are paid off, Ginnie Maes provide investors with monthly payments of interest and principal as well as any unscheduled prepayments on the underlying mortgage loans.

Ginnie Maes carry a guarantee as to the timely repayment of principal and interest that is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The full faith and credit guarantee does not apply to the market prices and yields of the Ginnie Maes or to the net asset value or performance of the Fund, which will vary with changes in interest rates and other market conditions.

The Fund may also invest in mortgage-backed and other securities issued or guaranteed by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Securities issued or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, but rather are generally supported only by the creditworthiness of the issuer.

The Fund may invest in U.S. Treasury STRIPS, bills, bonds, notes and Treasury inflation-protected securities.

Government agency or instrumentality issues have different levels of credit support. Ginnie Mae pass-through mortgage certificates are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. U.S. government-sponsored entities, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, may be chartered by Acts of Congress, but their securities are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government. Although the U.S. government has provided financial support to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, no assurance can be given that the U.S. government will continue to do so. Accordingly, securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may involve a greater risk of non-payment of principal and interest. Investors should remember that guarantees of timely repayment of principal and interest do not apply to the market prices and yields of the securities or to the net asset value or performance of the Fund, which will vary with changes in interest rates and other market conditions.

FUND SUMMARIES

The Fund may also invest in other U.S. government securities, which may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Interest Rate When interest rates rise, debt security prices generally fall. The opposite is also generally true: debt security prices rise when interest rates fall. Interest rate changes are influenced by a number of factors, including government policy, monetary policy, inflation expectations, perceptions of risk, and supply of and demand for bonds. In general, securities with longer maturities or durations are more sensitive to interest rate changes.

Prepayment Prepayment risk occurs when a debt security can be repaid in whole or in part prior to the security's maturity and the Fund must reinvest the proceeds it receives, during periods of declining interest rates, in securities that pay a lower rate of interest. Also, if a security has been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment. Prepayments generally increase when interest rates fall.

Mortgage Securities Mortgage securities differ from conventional debt securities because principal is paid back periodically over the life of the security rather than at maturity. The Fund may receive unscheduled payments of principal due to voluntary prepayments, refinancings or foreclosures on the underlying mortgage loans. Because of prepayments, mortgage securities may be less effective than some other types of debt securities as a means of "locking in" long-term interest rates and may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of falling interest rates. A reduction in the anticipated rate of principal prepayments, especially during periods of rising interest rates, may increase or extend the effective maturity of mortgage securities, making them more sensitive to interest rate changes, subject to greater price volatility, and more susceptible than some other debt securities to a decline in market value when interest rates rise.

Extension The market value of some debt securities (such as certain asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities) will be adversely affected when bond calls or prepayments on underlying mortgages or other assets are less or slower than anticipated. When that occurs, the effective maturity date of the Fund’s investment is extended, resulting in an increase in interest rate sensitivity to that of a longer-term instrument.

Ginnie Maes Ginnie Maes differ from conventional corporate debt securities because principal is paid back monthly over the life of the security rather than at maturity. The Fund may receive unscheduled payments of principal due to voluntary prepayments, refinancing or foreclosure on the underlying mortgage loans. Because of prepayments, Ginnie Maes may be less effective than some other types of securities as a means of "locking in" long-term interest rates and may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of falling interest rates. A reduction in the anticipated rate of principal prepayments, especially during periods of rising interest rates, may increase the effective maturity of Ginnie Maes, making them more susceptible than some other debt securities to a decline in market value when interest rates rise.

Income The Fund's distributions to shareholders may decline when prevailing interest rates fall, when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds or when the Fund realizes a loss upon the sale of a debt security.

Credit An issuer of debt securities may fail to make interest payments or repay principal when due, in whole or in part. Changes in an issuer's financial strength or in a security's credit rating may affect a security's value. While securities issued by Ginnie Mae are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, not all securities of the various U.S. government agencies are, including those of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Accordingly, securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may involve a risk of non-payment of principal and interest.

Management The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an actively managed investment portfolio. The Fund's investment manager applies investment techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.

The global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19 and its subsequent variants, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. The long-term impact on economies, markets, industries and individual issuers, is not known. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets; reduced liquidity of many instruments; and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.

Cybersecurity Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the Fund, the investment manager, and/or their

FUND SUMMARIES

service providers (including, but not limited to, Fund accountants, custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The investment manager has limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third party service providers, and such third party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fund or the investment manager. Cybersecurity incidents may result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in an effort to prevent or mitigate future cybersecurity incidents. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.

Because technology is frequently changing, new ways to carry out cyber attacks are always developing. Therefore, there is a chance that some risks have not been identified or prepared for, or that an attack may not be detected, which puts limitations on the Fund's ability to plan for or respond to a cyber attack. Like other funds and business enterprises, the Fund, the investment manager, and their service providers are subject to the risk of cyber incidents occurring from time to time.

FUND SUMMARIES

Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to year for Class 2 shares. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or since inception, as applicable, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.

Performance reflects all Fund expenses but does not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified plans or funds of funds. If they had been included, the returns shown below would be lower. Investors should consult the variable insurance contract prospectus, or the disclosure documents for qualified plans or funds of funds for more information.

Class 2 Annual Total Returns

Average Annual Total Returns

For periods ended December 31, 2022

FUND SUMMARIES

Investment Manager

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers)

Portfolio Managers

Paul Varunok
Senior Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2004.

Neil Dhruv
Vice President of Advisers and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Shares of the Fund are sold to insurance companies’ separate accounts (Insurers) to fund variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts and to qualified plans. Insurance companies offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products through separate accounts. Shares of the Fund may also be sold to other mutual funds, either as underlying funds in a fund of funds or in other structures. In addition, Fund shares are held by a limited number of Insurers, qualified retirement plans and, when applicable, funds of funds. Substantial withdrawals by one or more Insurers, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds could reduce Fund assets, causing total Fund expenses to become higher than the numbers shown in the fees and expenses table above.

The terms of the offering of interests in separate accounts are included in the variable annuity or variable life insurance product prospectus. The terms of offerings of funds of funds are included in those funds' prospectuses. The terms of offering of qualified retirement plans are described in their disclosure documents. Investors should consult the variable contract prospectus, fund of fund prospectus, or plan disclosure documents for more information on fees and expenses imposed by variable insurance contracts, funds of funds or qualified retirement plans, respectively.

Taxes

Because shares of the Fund are generally purchased through variable annuity contracts or variable life insurance contracts, the Fund's distributions (which the Fund expects, based on its investment goals and strategies to consist of primarily ordinary income) will be exempt from current taxation if left to accumulate within the variable contract. You should refer to your contract prospectus for more information on these tax consequences.

Payments to Sponsoring Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

The Fund or its distributor (and related companies) may pay broker/dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as banks and insurance companies, or their related companies) for the sale and retention of variable contracts which offer Fund shares and/or for other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Fund as an investment option in its variable contract. For more information, ask your insurance company or financial advisor, visit your insurance company’s or intermediary’s website, or consult the Contract prospectus or this Fund prospectus.

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FUND SUMMARIES

FRANKLIN VOLSMART ALLOCATION VIP FUND

Investment Goal

Total return (including income and capital gains) while seeking to manage volatility.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The table and the example do not include any fees or sales charges imposed by variable insurance contracts, qualified retirement plans or funds of funds. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

^1. Class 2 distribution and service (12b-1) fees have been restated to reflect the maximum annual rate approved by the board of trustees for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights table in the Fund’s prospectus.

^2. Other expenses have been restated to reflect fees and expenses for the current fiscal year. Consequently, the total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights.

^3. Total annual Fund operating expenses differ from the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights, which reflect the operating expenses of the Fund and do not include acquired fund fees and expenses.

^4. The investment manager has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse operating expenses (excluding Rule 12b-1 fees; acquired fund fees and expenses; and certain non-routine expenses or costs, such as those relating to litigation, indemnification, reorganizations and liquidations) for the Fund so that the ratio of total annual fund operating expenses will not exceed 0.65% for each share class. The investment manager has also agreed to reduce its fees to reflect reduced services resulting from the Fund’s investments in Franklin Templeton affiliated funds. These arrangements are expected to continue until April 30, 2024. During the terms, the fee waiver and expense reimbursement agreements may not be terminated or amended without approval of the board of trustees except to add series or classes, to reflect the extension of termination dates or to lower the waiver and expense limitation (which would result in lower fees for shareholders).

Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example reflects adjustments made to the Fund's operating expenses due to the fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements by management for the 1 Year numbers only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 37.75% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Under normal market conditions, the Fund seeks to achieve its investment goal by allocating its assets across certain asset classes, sectors and strategies in an attempt to produce a diversified portfolio that will generate returns while minimizing the expected volatility of the Fund’s returns so that volatility does not exceed a target of 10% per year (volatility within the 10% target is referred to as “Target Volatility”). Managing the Fund to remain within its Target Volatility is designed to reduce the potential dramatic and rapid price swings that could be experienced by the Fund's "core portfolio." The Fund’s assets are primarily invested in its “core portfolio,” which is principally comprised of various U.S. equity and fixed income investments and strategies including investments in other mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that provide exposure to such investments and strategies, as described in more detail below. The Fund’s investment manager, Franklin Advisers, Inc. (Advisers), allocates the Fund’s assets among the strategies and investments in the core portfolio to diversify the assets of the Fund and to reduce the Fund’s risk of being significantly impacted by changes in a specific asset class.

In addition, Advisers employs an additional strategy to manage the Fund’s risk exposure to market volatility. Advisers employs a volatility management strategy, which is

FUND SUMMARIES

designed to manage the expected volatility of the Fund’s returns so that volatility remains within the Fund’s Target Volatility. In employing this strategy, Advisers measures the Fund’s expected volatility and utilize certain derivative instruments (primarily futures contracts on indices) to adjust the Fund’s expected volatility to within the Target Volatility, as described in more detail below. There is no guarantee that the Fund will stay within its Target Volatility.

There is no guarantee that the Fund’s volatility management strategy will be successful. The Fund’s Target Volatility is not a total return performance target – the Fund does not expect, nor does it represent, that its total return performance will be within any specified range. It is possible that the Fund could stay within its Target Volatility while having negative performance returns. Also, efforts to manage the Fund's volatility can be expected to limit the Fund's gains in rising markets, may expose the Fund to costs to which it would otherwise not have been exposed, and if unsuccessful may result in substantial losses.

The Fund is structured as a limited “fund-of-funds” that seeks to achieve its investment goal by investing its assets partially in other mutual funds, which include other Franklin Templeton and Legg Mason mutual funds and ETFs and third-party ETFs (underlying funds). Each underlying fund is allocated to the equity, fixed income, multi-class or cash asset class based on its predominant asset class and strategies. These underlying funds, in turn, invest in a variety of U.S. and foreign equity, fixed-income and money market securities. The Fund also obtains exposure to certain strategies and investments in its core portfolio by directly investing in the securities and instruments in that strategy. The Fund may have a large percentage of its core portfolio assets invested in underlying funds at any given time; however, the Fund will not invest more than 25% of its assets in any one underlying fund at any given time. The Fund’s investments in underlying funds will change over time depending on various factors, including general market conditions.

Core Portfolio

Under normal market conditions, the Fund’s core portfolio is allocated among the broad asset classes according to the following approximate percentages to achieve the Fund’s asset allocation strategy:

• 50%-70% Equity Allocation

• 13%-33% Fixed Income Allocation

• 5%-15% Multi-Asset Class Allocation (combination of equity and fixed income)

• 2%-13% Cash (includes cash, cash equivalents and money market funds or securities)

To the extent that Advisers allocates the Fund’s assets to underlying funds, such allocations are based on the underlying fund’s predominant asset class. These underlying funds invest in a variety of equity and fixed-income securities and may also have exposure to derivative instruments.

At the discretion of Advisers, the above percentages may vary from time to time without shareholder approval, e.g., based on market conditions or the investment manager’s assessment of an asset class’ relative attractiveness as an investment opportunity or as part of the volatility management strategy. In addition, as a result of the Fund’s use of derivatives, and/or in an effort to manage expected volatility, the Fund may hold significant amounts of cash, cash equivalents and money market instruments.

When selecting equity investments for the Fund’s core portfolio, Advisers considers a number of characteristics, including but not limited to, the market capitalization and investment style (growth vs. value). The Fund or the underlying funds may invest in securities of any capitalization range. When selecting fixed-income investments for the Fund’s core portfolio, Advisers considers a number of characteristics, including but not limited to, yield and price volatility. The Fund or the underlying funds may invest in mortgage- or asset-backed securities and high yield debt securities (also known as “junk bonds”). In evaluating the risk level of the Fund’s investments, the Advisers analyzes various characteristics including but not limited to: (a) relative and absolute performance, including correlations with other underlying funds as well as corresponding benchmarks, and (b) volatility.

Volatility Management Strategy

The Fund employs a volatility management strategy that seeks to stabilize the number and level of performance swings of the Fund over time. Managing the Fund's volatility to within its Target Volatility is intended to reduce the downside risk of the Fund during periods of significant and sustained market declines. There is, however, no guarantee that the Fund will remain within its Target Volatility. In this context, “volatility” is a statistical measurement of the frequency and level of up and down fluctuations of the Fund’s returns over time. Volatility may result in rapid and dramatic price swings. Volatility, in other words, represents the average annual deviation of the Fund’s return around the average Fund return.

In employing this strategy, Advisers measures the expected annual volatility of the Fund’s core portfolio. If the Fund’s expected annual volatility exceeds the Target Volatility, the Fund writes (sells) one or more equity index futures contracts (usually S&P 500 Index futures contracts) with the goal of decreasing the core portfolio’s exposure to U.S. equity securities so that the expected annual volatility of the Fund is at or below the target of 10%. Generally, Advisers intends to use the strategy to reduce risk and would not employ the volatility management strategy if the expected volatility of the Fund’s core portfolio is at or below the Target Volatility. The volatility strategy may cause the Fund’s effective exposure to certain asset classes to be greater or less than its direct investments.

With respect to the Fund's derivative investments, the Fund may enter into equity index futures contracts in connection with the Fund’s volatility management strategy. The Fund also engages in one or more total return swaps on one or

FUND SUMMARIES

more systematic or quantitative rules-based indices that use a mathematical methodology to automatically increase or decrease exposure to short- and/or medium-term futures on an index that measures market expectations of volatility. The Fund invests in such swaps to manage volatility and to generate income. In addition, the underlying funds may enter into various transactions involving complex derivative instruments for hedging or investment purposes.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Mutual fund shares are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed or endorsed by, any bank, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.