diff --git a/keras/src/backend/common/backend_utils.py b/keras/src/backend/common/backend_utils.py
index fb809c2cc7b2..6184e569043b 100644
--- a/keras/src/backend/common/backend_utils.py
+++ b/keras/src/backend/common/backend_utils.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import functools
-import operator
 import re
 import warnings
 
@@ -262,14 +261,18 @@ def compute_conv_transpose_output_shape(
 
 def canonicalize_axis(axis, num_dims):
     """Canonicalize an axis in [-num_dims, num_dims) to [0, num_dims)."""
-    axis = operator.index(axis)
-    if not -num_dims <= axis < num_dims:
+    # Faster than operator.index() as we avoid function call overhead
+    try:
+        axis = axis.__index__()
+    except AttributeError:
+        raise TypeError(f"axis must be an integer, got {type(axis)}")
+    if axis < -num_dims or axis >= num_dims:
         raise ValueError(
             f"axis {axis} is out of bounds for an array with dimension "
             f"{num_dims}."
         )
     if axis < 0:
-        axis = axis + num_dims
+        axis += num_dims
     return axis
 
 
diff --git a/keras/src/ops/operation_utils.py b/keras/src/ops/operation_utils.py
index b1ac2621de0a..fb776db8c5d0 100644
--- a/keras/src/ops/operation_utils.py
+++ b/keras/src/ops/operation_utils.py
@@ -370,22 +370,25 @@ def compute_take_along_axis_output_shape(input_shape, indices_shape, axis):
 
 def reduce_shape(shape, axis=None, keepdims=False):
     shape = list(shape)
+    n = len(shape)
     if axis is None:
         if keepdims:
-            return tuple([1 for _ in shape])
+            return (1,) * n
         else:
-            return tuple([])
+            return ()
     elif isinstance(axis, int):
         axis = (axis,)
 
-    axis = tuple(canonicalize_axis(a, len(shape)) for a in axis)
+    axis_tuple = tuple(canonicalize_axis(a, n) for a in axis)
+
 
     if keepdims:
-        for ax in axis:
+        for ax in axis_tuple:
             shape[ax] = 1
         return tuple(shape)
     else:
-        for ax in sorted(axis, reverse=True):
+        # Pre-sort axis indices once for deletion in reverse order
+        for ax in sorted(axis_tuple, reverse=True):
             del shape[ax]
         return tuple(shape)