diff --git a/plotly/basedatatypes.py b/plotly/basedatatypes.py
index 1384e08d54..e00cc9e81f 100644
--- a/plotly/basedatatypes.py
+++ b/plotly/basedatatypes.py
@@ -1,27 +1,20 @@
 import collections
-from collections import OrderedDict
+import itertools
 import re
 import warnings
+from collections import OrderedDict
 from contextlib import contextmanager
-from copy import deepcopy, copy
-import itertools
+from copy import copy, deepcopy
 from functools import reduce
 
-from _plotly_utils.utils import (
-    _natural_sort_strings,
-    _get_int_type,
-    split_multichar,
-    split_string_positions,
-    display_string_positions,
-    chomp_empty_strings,
-    find_closest_string,
-    convert_to_base64,
-)
 from _plotly_utils.exceptions import PlotlyKeyError
-from .optional_imports import get_module
+from _plotly_utils.utils import (_get_int_type, _natural_sort_strings,
+                                 chomp_empty_strings, convert_to_base64,
+                                 display_string_positions, find_closest_string,
+                                 split_multichar, split_string_positions)
 
-from . import shapeannotation
-from . import _subplots
+from . import _subplots, animation, shapeannotation
+from .optional_imports import get_module
 
 # Create Undefined sentinel value
 #   - Setting a property to None removes any existing value
@@ -638,7 +631,6 @@ class is a subclass of both BaseFigure and widgets.DOMWidget.
 
         # Animation property validators
         # -----------------------------
-        from . import animation
 
         self._animation_duration_validator = animation.DurationValidator()
         self._animation_easing_validator = animation.EasingValidator()
@@ -1456,11 +1448,19 @@ def _select_layout_subplots_by_prefix(
                 or container_to_row_col.get(k, (None, None, None))[2] == secondary_y
             ),
         ]
+
+        # Pre-filter layout keys by prefix and non-None to reduce sorting overhead
+        prefix_filtered_keys = [
+            k
+            for k in self.layout
+            if k.startswith(prefix) and self.layout[k] is not None
+        ]
+
         layout_keys = reduce(
             lambda last, f: filter(f, last),
-            layout_keys_filters,
+            layout_keys_filters[1:],  # Skip first filter since we already applied it
             # Natural sort keys so that xaxis20 is after xaxis3
-            _natural_sort_strings(list(self.layout)),
+            _natural_sort_strings(prefix_filtered_keys),
         )
         layout_objs = [self.layout[k] for k in layout_keys]
         return _generator(self._filter_by_selector(layout_objs, [], selector))
@@ -3775,14 +3775,11 @@ def to_image(self, *args, **kwargs):
             The image data
         """
         import plotly.io as pio
-        from plotly.io.kaleido import (
-            kaleido_available,
-            kaleido_major,
-            ENABLE_KALEIDO_V0_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS,
-            KALEIDO_DEPRECATION_MSG,
-            ORCA_DEPRECATION_MSG,
-            ENGINE_PARAM_DEPRECATION_MSG,
-        )
+        from plotly.io.kaleido import (ENABLE_KALEIDO_V0_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS,
+                                       ENGINE_PARAM_DEPRECATION_MSG,
+                                       KALEIDO_DEPRECATION_MSG,
+                                       ORCA_DEPRECATION_MSG, kaleido_available,
+                                       kaleido_major)
 
         if ENABLE_KALEIDO_V0_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS:
             if (
@@ -3870,14 +3867,11 @@ def write_image(self, *args, **kwargs):
         None
         """
         import plotly.io as pio
-        from plotly.io.kaleido import (
-            kaleido_available,
-            kaleido_major,
-            ENABLE_KALEIDO_V0_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS,
-            KALEIDO_DEPRECATION_MSG,
-            ORCA_DEPRECATION_MSG,
-            ENGINE_PARAM_DEPRECATION_MSG,
-        )
+        from plotly.io.kaleido import (ENABLE_KALEIDO_V0_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS,
+                                       ENGINE_PARAM_DEPRECATION_MSG,
+                                       KALEIDO_DEPRECATION_MSG,
+                                       ORCA_DEPRECATION_MSG, kaleido_available,
+                                       kaleido_major)
 
         if ENABLE_KALEIDO_V0_DEPRECATION_WARNINGS:
             if (
@@ -3921,10 +3915,8 @@ def _perform_update(plotly_obj, update_obj, overwrite=False):
             :class:`BasePlotlyType`, ``update_obj`` should be a tuple or list
             of dicts
         """
-        from _plotly_utils.basevalidators import (
-            CompoundValidator,
-            CompoundArrayValidator,
-        )
+        from _plotly_utils.basevalidators import (CompoundArrayValidator,
+                                                  CompoundValidator)
 
         if update_obj is None:
             # Nothing to do
@@ -4521,9 +4513,7 @@ def _get_child_props(self, child):
             # ### Child a compound property ###
             if child.plotly_name in self:
                 from _plotly_utils.basevalidators import (
-                    CompoundValidator,
-                    CompoundArrayValidator,
-                )
+                    CompoundArrayValidator, CompoundValidator)
 
                 validator = self._get_validator(child.plotly_name)
 
@@ -4750,11 +4740,9 @@ def __getitem__(self, prop):
         -------
         Any
         """
-        from _plotly_utils.basevalidators import (
-            CompoundValidator,
-            CompoundArrayValidator,
-            BaseDataValidator,
-        )
+        from _plotly_utils.basevalidators import (BaseDataValidator,
+                                                  CompoundArrayValidator,
+                                                  CompoundValidator)
 
         # Normalize prop
         # --------------
@@ -4883,11 +4871,9 @@ def __setitem__(self, prop, value):
         -------
         None
         """
-        from _plotly_utils.basevalidators import (
-            CompoundValidator,
-            CompoundArrayValidator,
-            BaseDataValidator,
-        )
+        from _plotly_utils.basevalidators import (BaseDataValidator,
+                                                  CompoundArrayValidator,
+                                                  CompoundValidator)
 
         # Normalize prop
         # --------------