diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tomllib/test_misc.py b/Lib/test/test_tomllib/test_misc.py
index 118fde24d88521..bd257302255992 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_tomllib/test_misc.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tomllib/test_misc.py
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 import sys
 import tempfile
+import textwrap
 import unittest
 from test import support
+from test.support import os_helper
+from test.support.script_helper import assert_python_ok
 
 from . import tomllib
 
@@ -124,3 +127,55 @@ def test_types_import(self):
         never imported by tests.
         """
         importlib.import_module(f"{tomllib.__name__}._types")
+
+    def test_try_simple_decimal(self):
+        try_simple_decimal = tomllib._parser.try_simple_decimal
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("123", 0), (3, 123))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("123\n", 0), (3, 123))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("123 456", 0), (3, 123))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("+123\n", 0), (4, 123))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("-123\n", 0), (4, -123))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("0\n", 0), (1, 0))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("+0\n", 0), (2, 0))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("-0\n", 0), (2, 0))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("[23]\n", 1), (3, 23))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("[23, 24]\n", 1), (3, 23))
+        self.assertEqual(try_simple_decimal("{x = 42}\n", 5), (7, 42))
+
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("+", 0), None)
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("-", 0), None)
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("+\n", 0), None)
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("-\n", 0), None)
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("+inf\n", 0), None)
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("-nan\n", 0), None)
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("0123\n", 0))
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("1979-05-27\n", 0))
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("12:32:00\n", 0))
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("1.0\n", 0))
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("1_000\n", 0))
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("0x123\n", 0))
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("0o123\n", 0))
+        self.assertIsNone(try_simple_decimal("0b100\n", 0))
+
+    def test_lazy_import(self):
+        # Test that try_simple_decimal() can parse the TOML file without
+        # importing regular expressions (tomllib._re)
+        filename = os_helper.TESTFN
+        self.addCleanup(os_helper.unlink, filename)
+        toml = textwrap.dedent("""
+            [metadata]
+            int = 123
+            list = [+1, -2, 3]
+            table = {x=1, y=2}
+        """)
+        with open(filename, "w") as fp:
+            fp.write(toml)
+
+        code = textwrap.dedent(f"""
+            import sys, tomllib
+            with open({filename!a}, "rb") as fp:
+                tomllib.load(fp)
+            print("lazy import?", 'tomllib._re' not in sys.modules)
+        """)
+        proc = assert_python_ok('-c', code)
+        self.assertIn(b'lazy import? True', proc.out)
diff --git a/Lib/tomllib/_parser.py b/Lib/tomllib/_parser.py
index b59d0f7d54bdc3..ede6859a64396b 100644
--- a/Lib/tomllib/_parser.py
+++ b/Lib/tomllib/_parser.py
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from types import MappingProxyType
+# Defer loading regular expressions until we actually need them in
+# parse_value(). Before that, use try_simple_decimal() to parse simple
+# decimal numbers.
+__lazy_modules__ = ["tomllib._re"]
 
 from ._re import (
     RE_DATETIME,
@@ -42,7 +45,18 @@
 KEY_INITIAL_CHARS: Final = BARE_KEY_CHARS | frozenset("\"'")
 HEXDIGIT_CHARS: Final = frozenset("abcdef" "ABCDEF" "0123456789")
 
-BASIC_STR_ESCAPE_REPLACEMENTS: Final = MappingProxyType(
+# If one of these follows a "simple decimal" it could mean that
+# the value is actually something else (float, datetime...), so
+# optimized parsing should be abandoned.
+ILLEGAL_AFTER_SIMPLE_DECIMAL: Final = frozenset(
+    "eE."  # decimal
+    "xbo"  # hex, bin, oct
+    "-"  # datetime
+    ":"  # localtime
+    "_0123456789"  # complex decimal
+)
+
+BASIC_STR_ESCAPE_REPLACEMENTS: Final = frozendict( # type: ignore[name-defined]
     {
         "\\b": "\u0008",  # backspace
         "\\t": "\u0009",  # tab
@@ -665,6 +679,37 @@ def parse_basic_str(src: str, pos: Pos, *, multiline: bool) -> tuple[Pos, str]:
         pos += 1
 
 
+def try_simple_decimal(
+    src: str, pos: Pos
+) -> None | tuple[Pos, int]:
+    """Parse a "simple" decimal integer.
+
+    An optimization that tries to parse a simple decimal integer
+    without underscores. Returns `None` if there's any uncertainty
+    on correctness.
+    """
+    start_pos = pos
+
+    if src.startswith(("+", "-"), pos):
+        pos += 1
+
+    if src.startswith("0", pos):
+        pos += 1
+    elif src.startswith(("1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9"), pos):
+        pos = skip_chars(src, pos, "0123456789")
+    else:
+        return None
+
+    try:
+        next_char = src[pos]
+    except IndexError:
+        next_char = None
+    if next_char in ILLEGAL_AFTER_SIMPLE_DECIMAL:
+        return None
+
+    return pos, int(src[start_pos:pos])
+
+
 def parse_value(
     src: str, pos: Pos, parse_float: ParseFloat
 ) -> tuple[Pos, Any]:
@@ -703,6 +748,13 @@ def parse_value(
     if char == "{":
         return parse_inline_table(src, pos, parse_float)
 
+    # Try a simple parser for decimal numbers. If it's able to parse all
+    # numbers, it avoids importing tomllib._re which has an impact on
+    # the tomllib startup time.
+    number = try_simple_decimal(src, pos)
+    if number is not None:
+        return number
+
     # Dates and times
     datetime_match = RE_DATETIME.match(src, pos)
     if datetime_match:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-02-05-06-34.gh-issue-147991.2ANtR5.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-02-05-06-34.gh-issue-147991.2ANtR5.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..581c52926c3565
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-04-02-05-06-34.gh-issue-147991.2ANtR5.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Improve :mod:`tomllib` import time (up to 10x faster). Patch by Victor
+Stinner.