A fig does not usually need encouragement to grow lateral branches, and I would leave it alone this year and see what it does. Al

I bet you'll get lateral growth this year if you leave it alone. But I don't like my fig trees to get too high, I don't want to use a ladder to harvest, so I chop them off at about 5 ft. My trees are only 3-4 years old but so far they seem happy with my pruning.

I wouldn't much disagree with the previous answers. Bit I do think that you may or may not get lateral branches this year, and even if you do they won't likely be as low as you want them. If it were my tree I would cut it down to 2 or 3 feet high, although I would have liked to have done it a year or two earlier. I did this with my Desert King, Latarula and Brown Turkey, but long before they were 7 feet high. Actually, the Latarula was about 5 feet tall. They branched immediately and vigorously at the point I cut them. Those branches in subsequent years were headed back and branched similarly. I have ended up with wide, low bushy trees which is exactly what I was hoping for. Going forward I continue to make heading cuts way down on branches that are getting too high. I sacrifice some fig production in years that I do this, but that's the way it goes.
Fig trees are much more forgiving on heading cuts than other fruit trees. I wouldn't dream off lopping an apple branch way back unless I was cutting back to a lower branch or bud. I'd end up with a dead stub most often. Figs, on the other hand, always seem to send out new growth even from an ugly heading cut. At some point I'm sure the wood gets old enough that it can no longer generate new buds, and I'm not sure how to recognize that. I just try to cut into wood that has visible leaf joints from previous years.
I also have a Neveralla which is a much slower growing tree and it has branched well without me cutting into it. But it is only 4 feet tall after 4 years in the ground.
The problem as I see it is that your tree may decide it wants to branch at 5 feet and go from there. That isn't the sort of tree I would want to encourage. Look down the trunk of your tree and see if you can see horizontal divisions where previous years' leafs grew. Is that wood smooth and healthy-looking. If so, you can cut just above such a joint and expect some vigorous branching to occur. Yes, you are delaying fig production but that may be the price you pay for establishing the form you want.
Before doing anything you should examine the trunk all along its length, specifically at the old leaf joints, and see if you can see little "bumps" starting push out. Kinda like little green pimples. Look closely, 360 degrees around the stem. These are new branches just beginning to form. If you see them now, that will tell you where the branching is going to occur this year. If you don't see any then either it's too early, which I doubt, or no branching is happening.
Remember I'm just relaying my own experience and I certainly don't consider myself any expert. Whatever you do and whatever results you get are yours alone. Alot of people eschew heading cuts in general on fruit trees but I consider figs a notable exception due to their exception bud-producing abilities. Still, I only head back branches that are getting out of hand and leave me little choice.
You may also want to consider posting this in the GardenWeb Fig Forum.