Display set amount of custom posts

Hi I am using custom post types and I wish to have show_posts=5 but I am not sure where to put the code. my knowledge of php is very basic. Thanks

<?php query_posts( 'post_type=latestnews'); ?>
	            <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

	                     <?php $currentid = get_the_id(); ?>
	                                	<ul class="line">
	                                		<li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php echo get_the_title($currentid); ?></a></li>
	                                	</ul>

	                    <?php
	                endwhile;
	            endif;

            wp_reset_query();
            ?>