The phonon dispersion of FeSi was measured by inelastic x-ray scattering. The study of its temperature evolution in the range of 100 K-300 K showed that the phonon modes soften to a different extent. The phonons exhibiting specifically strong softening were revealed to belong to the weakly dispersive optical branch. At the same time, the calculations of the lattice dynamics of FeSi suggest that this branch corresponds mainly to the atomic displacements that change the Fe-Fe nearest neighbor distance. It points to the role of the Fe-Fe interaction in the phonon softening.