Provided are a rubber composition for a tire cord topping, a breaker edge strip, a breaker cushion, or a strip adjacent to cords, which achieves a balanced improvement in handling stability, fuel economy, durability, ride quality, and adhesion; and pneumatic tires including the same. The rubber composition includes: an isoprene-based rubber; a phenol resin and/or an alkylphenol resin; and a partial condensate of HMMM and/or a partial condensate of HMMPME, wherein an amount of the isoprene-based rubber is 60% by mass or higher per 100% by mass of the rubber component; and combined amount of the phenol resin and the alkylphenol resin is 2-3.9 parts by mass, combined amount of the partial condensate of HMMM and the partial condensate of HMMPME is 0.5-5 parts by mass, and an amount of silica is at most 15 parts by mass, each per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component.