diff --git a/src/Stache/Indexes/Index.php b/src/Stache/Indexes/Index.php
index 61182a2e005..00126931048 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Indexes/Index.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Indexes/Index.php
@@ -59,6 +59,13 @@ public function push($value)
         $this->items[] = $value;
     }
 
+    public function setItems(array $items): static
+    {
+        $this->items = $items;
+
+        return $this;
+    }
+
     public function load()
     {
         if ($this->loaded) {
diff --git a/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Associations.php b/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Associations.php
index 1ddef3781e3..e4ccf2e5ee9 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Associations.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Associations.php
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace Statamic\Stache\Indexes\Terms;
 
+use Statamic\Facades\Stache;
 use Statamic\Facades\Taxonomy;
 use Statamic\Stache\Indexes\Index;
 use Statamic\Support\Str;
@@ -10,24 +11,58 @@ class Associations extends Index
 {
     public function getItems()
     {
-        return Taxonomy::findByHandle($handle = $this->store->childKey())
+        $handle = $this->store->childKey();
+
+        return Taxonomy::findByHandle($handle)
             ->collections()
             ->flatMap(function ($collection) use ($handle) {
-                return $collection->queryEntries()
-                    ->where($handle, '<>', null)
-                    ->get()
-                    ->flatMap(function ($entry) use ($handle) {
-                        return collect($entry->value($handle))
-                            ->map(function ($value) use ($entry) {
-                                return [
-                                    'value' => $value,
-                                    'slug' => Str::slug($value),
-                                    'entry' => $entry->id(),
-                                    'collection' => $entry->collectionHandle(),
-                                    'site' => $entry->locale(),
-                                ];
-                            });
-                    })->all();
+                $entriesStore = Stache::store('entries')->store($collection->handle());
+                // Hoist outside the loop to avoid repeated method calls per entry.
+                $collectionHandle = $collection->handle();
+                $results = [];
+
+                // Two earlier approaches both caused excess memory usage:
+                // 1. queryEntries()->get()->flatMap() — loaded all matching entries at once.
+                // 2. queryEntries()->lazy()->flatMap() — chunked loading, but each Entry
+                //    object was still kept alive for the duration of its flatMap closure,
+                //    so entries accumulated within each chunk.
+                // With 3000+ entries containing large Bard content, both caused ~2.5 GB peak RSS.
+                // Iterating paths directly lets us unset each Entry immediately after
+                // extracting the scalar values we need, so PHP can reclaim memory
+                // per-entry rather than holding everything until flatMap returns.
+                foreach ($entriesStore->paths()->keys() as $key) {
+                    $item = $entriesStore->getItem($key);
+
+                    if (! $item) {
+                        continue;
+                    }
+
+                    $value = $item->value($handle);
+
+                    if (empty($value)) {
+                        // Release the entry object before moving to the next key.
+                        unset($item);
+
+                        continue;
+                    }
+
+                    $entryId = $item->id();
+                    $site = $item->locale();
+                    // Release the entry object now that we have all the scalars we need.
+                    unset($item);
+
+                    foreach ((array) $value as $termValue) {
+                        $results[] = [
+                            'value' => $termValue,
+                            'slug' => Str::slug($termValue),
+                            'entry' => $entryId,
+                            'collection' => $collectionHandle,
+                            'site' => $site,
+                        ];
+                    }
+                }
+
+                return $results;
             })->all();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php b/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php
index c220b679e1b..5dfc0bfa97a 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php
@@ -406,12 +406,30 @@ public function clear()
 
     public function warm()
     {
-        $this->shouldCacheFileItems = true;
+        $indexes = $this->resolveIndexes();
 
-        $this->resolveIndexes()->each->update();
+        // Partition: indexes implementing getItemValue() can be built in a single pass.
+        // Others (e.g. Terms/Associations) query their own data sources independently.
+        [$valueIndexes, $otherIndexes] = $indexes->partition(
+            fn ($index) => method_exists($index, 'getItemValue')
+        );
 
-        $this->shouldCacheFileItems = false;
-        $this->fileItems = null;
+        // Single pass: hold one item in memory at a time while feeding all value indexes.
+        $accumulated = $valueIndexes->map(fn () => [])->all();
+
+        foreach ($this->paths()->keys() as $key) {
+            $item = $this->getItem($key);
+
+            foreach ($valueIndexes as $name => $index) {
+                $accumulated[$name][$key] = $index->getItemValue($item);
+            }
+        }
+
+        $valueIndexes->each(function ($index, $name) use ($accumulated) {
+            $index->setItems($accumulated[$name])->cache();
+        });
+
+        $otherIndexes->each->update();
     }
 
     public function keys()
diff --git a/tests/Stache/Indexes/Terms/AssociationsTest.php b/tests/Stache/Indexes/Terms/AssociationsTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fcb2ee76a20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Stache/Indexes/Terms/AssociationsTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Tests\Stache\Indexes\Terms;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\Test;
+use Statamic\Facades\Collection;
+use Statamic\Facades\Entry;
+use Statamic\Facades\Stache;
+use Statamic\Facades\Taxonomy;
+use Tests\PreventSavingStacheItemsToDisk;
+use Tests\TestCase;
+
+class AssociationsTest extends TestCase
+{
+    use PreventSavingStacheItemsToDisk;
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_builds_associations_from_entries_in_linked_collections(): void
+    {
+        Taxonomy::make('tags')->save();
+
+        Collection::make('blog')
+            ->sites(['en'])
+            ->taxonomies(['tags'])
+            ->save();
+
+        Entry::make()->id('entry-1')->locale('en')->collection('blog')->slug('one')->data(['tags' => ['alfa', 'bravo']])->save();
+        Entry::make()->id('entry-2')->locale('en')->collection('blog')->slug('two')->data(['tags' => ['alfa']])->save();
+        Entry::make()->id('entry-3')->locale('en')->collection('blog')->slug('three')->data(['title' => 'No tags'])->save();
+
+        $associations = Stache::store('terms')->store('tags')->index('associations');
+        $associations->update();
+
+        $items = collect($associations->items()->all());
+
+        $this->assertCount(3, $items);
+
+        $alfaItems = $items->where('slug', 'alfa')->values();
+        $this->assertCount(2, $alfaItems);
+        $this->assertTrue($alfaItems->pluck('entry')->contains('entry-1'));
+        $this->assertTrue($alfaItems->pluck('entry')->contains('entry-2'));
+
+        $bravoItems = $items->where('slug', 'bravo')->values();
+        $this->assertCount(1, $bravoItems);
+        $this->assertEquals('entry-1', $bravoItems->first()['entry']);
+
+        $items->each(function ($item) {
+            $this->assertEquals('blog', $item['collection']);
+            $this->assertEquals('en', $item['site']);
+        });
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_builds_associations_across_multiple_collections(): void
+    {
+        Taxonomy::make('tags')->save();
+
+        Collection::make('blog')->sites(['en'])->taxonomies(['tags'])->save();
+        Collection::make('news')->sites(['en'])->taxonomies(['tags'])->save();
+
+        Entry::make()->id('blog-1')->locale('en')->collection('blog')->slug('blog-one')->data(['tags' => ['alfa']])->save();
+        Entry::make()->id('news-1')->locale('en')->collection('news')->slug('news-one')->data(['tags' => ['alfa']])->save();
+
+        $associations = Stache::store('terms')->store('tags')->index('associations');
+        $associations->update();
+
+        $alfaItems = collect($associations->items()->all())->where('slug', 'alfa')->values();
+
+        $this->assertCount(2, $alfaItems);
+        $this->assertTrue($alfaItems->pluck('collection')->contains('blog'));
+        $this->assertTrue($alfaItems->pluck('collection')->contains('news'));
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_returns_empty_when_no_entries_have_the_taxonomy(): void
+    {
+        Taxonomy::make('tags')->save();
+
+        Collection::make('blog')->sites(['en'])->taxonomies(['tags'])->save();
+
+        Entry::make()->id('entry-1')->locale('en')->collection('blog')->slug('one')->data(['title' => 'No tags'])->save();
+
+        $associations = Stache::store('terms')->store('tags')->index('associations');
+        $associations->update();
+
+        $this->assertEmpty($associations->items()->all());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/Stache/Stores/StoreWarmTest.php b/tests/Stache/Stores/StoreWarmTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..67aaa44cd91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Stache/Stores/StoreWarmTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Tests\Stache\Stores;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\Test;
+use Statamic\Facades\Stache;
+use Statamic\Stache\Indexes\Index;
+use Statamic\Stache\Indexes\Value;
+use Statamic\Stache\Stores\Store;
+use Tests\TestCase;
+
+class StoreWarmTest extends TestCase
+{
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_builds_value_indexes_in_a_single_pass(): void
+    {
+        $store = (new WarmableTestStore)->withItems([
+            'key-a' => 'Alpha',
+            'key-b' => 'Beta',
+        ]);
+
+        Stache::registerStore($store);
+
+        $store->warm();
+
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            ['key-a' => 'Alpha', 'key-b' => 'Beta'],
+            $store->index('name')->items()->all()
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_handles_an_empty_store(): void
+    {
+        $store = (new WarmableTestStore)->withItems([]);
+
+        Stache::registerStore($store);
+
+        $store->warm();
+
+        $this->assertEquals([], $store->index('name')->items()->all());
+    }
+
+    #[Test]
+    public function it_updates_non_value_indexes_via_their_own_update_method(): void
+    {
+        $store = (new WarmableTestStore)->withItems([]);
+
+        Stache::registerStore($store);
+
+        $store->warm();
+
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            ['static-key' => 'static-value'],
+            $store->index('static')->items()->all()
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+class WarmableTestStore extends Store
+{
+    protected array $items = [];
+
+    protected $defaultIndexes = [];
+
+    protected $storeIndexes = [
+        'name' => WarmableNameIndex::class,
+        'static' => WarmableStaticIndex::class,
+    ];
+
+    public function key(): string
+    {
+        return 'warmable';
+    }
+
+    public function withItems(array $items): static
+    {
+        $this->items = $items;
+
+        return $this;
+    }
+
+    public function paths()
+    {
+        return collect(array_fill_keys(array_keys($this->items), '/fake'));
+    }
+
+    public function getItem($key): string
+    {
+        return $this->items[$key] ?? '';
+    }
+
+    public function getItemKey($item): string
+    {
+        return $item;
+    }
+
+    public function getItemValues($keys, $valueIndex, $keyIndex): array
+    {
+        return [];
+    }
+}
+
+class WarmableNameIndex extends Value
+{
+    public function getItemValue($item): string
+    {
+        return $item;
+    }
+}
+
+class WarmableStaticIndex extends Index
+{
+    public function getItems(): array
+    {
+        return ['static-key' => 'static-value'];
+    }
+}