The increase in distance between services is due to several factors. You might notice that it used to be "5,000km or 6 months" and now it's "10,000km or 6 months". My wife's car is "15,000km or 6 months".
The distance changes would be due to better quality oils, improved engine manufacture, smarter tuning of the engine which produces less particulate matter in the exhaust (which is also what flies past your piston, enters the oil and becomes blow-by). Engines with good tunes, driven normally under reasonable conditions can last 10,000km or more without any difficulty whatsoever.
It's when you stress the engine that you see problems. The entire reason for the oil being there is to lubricate the bits that move - big ends, bores, cams and the turbocharger. As long as the oil is good enough to be pumped into those places, then your engine won't suffer any damage from a little extra age.
However, if you're set in your ways and want to do it every 5,000km, there's nothing stopping you.
Personally, I'm sitting at the same table as Pete. My D40 has a DPF, requires stupidly expensive fully synthetic 5W30 ultra-low-ash (JASO-FD) oil. I'll do mine every 10,000km, but I'm not worried: even though I tow (a lot), I'm nowhere near what you'd call a hard driver. Ask Scotty, who thinks I need a defibrillator.