diff --git a/conda_build/config.py b/conda_build/config.py
index 86fbe438d1..465058701f 100644
--- a/conda_build/config.py
+++ b/conda_build/config.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import copy
 import math
 import os
+import pickle
 import re
 import shutil
 import time
@@ -820,9 +821,12 @@ def clean_pkgs(self):
 
     def copy(self) -> Config:
         new = copy.copy(self)
-        new.variant = copy.deepcopy(self.variant)
+        # Use picke.loads(pickle.dumps(...) as a faster copy.deepcopy alternative.
+        new.variant = pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(self.variant, pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL))
         if hasattr(self, "variants"):
-            new.variants = copy.deepcopy(self.variants)
+            new.variants = pickle.loads(
+                pickle.dumps(self.variants, pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL)
+            )
         return new
 
     # context management - automatic cleanup if self.dirty or self.keep_old_work is not True
diff --git a/news/5281-perf-deepcopy b/news/5281-perf-deepcopy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b445074ea1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/5281-perf-deepcopy
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+### Enhancements
+
+* Increased performance by using pickle instead of deepcopy. (#5281)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9bc5272e8c..2726b59495 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ filterwarnings = [
   # ignore conda-index error
   "ignore::PendingDeprecationWarning:conda_index",
   "ignore::DeprecationWarning:conda_index",
+  "ignore:Python 3.14 will, by default, filter extracted tar archives and reject files or modify their metadata:DeprecationWarning",
 ]
 markers = [
   "serial: execute test serially (to avoid race conditions)",