diff --git a/pkg/workload/tpcc/tpcc.go b/pkg/workload/tpcc/tpcc.go
index 0c7d944022d4..6c8ac5e92a43 100644
--- a/pkg/workload/tpcc/tpcc.go
+++ b/pkg/workload/tpcc/tpcc.go
@@ -230,17 +230,24 @@ func (w *tpcc) Hooks() workload.Hooks {
 		},
 		PostLoad: func(db *gosql.DB) error {
 			if w.fks {
+				// We avoid validating foreign keys because we just generated
+				// the data set and don't want to scan over the entire thing
+				// again. Unfortunately, this means that we leave the foreign
+				// keys unvalidated for the duration of the test, so the SQL
+				// optimizer can't use them.
+				// TODO(lucy-zhang): expose an internal knob to validate fk
+				// relations without performing full validation. See #38833.
 				fkStmts := []string{
-					`alter table district add foreign key (d_w_id) references warehouse (w_id)`,
-					`alter table customer add foreign key (c_w_id, c_d_id) references district (d_w_id, d_id)`,
-					`alter table history add foreign key (h_c_w_id, h_c_d_id, h_c_id) references customer (c_w_id, c_d_id, c_id)`,
-					`alter table history add foreign key (h_w_id, h_d_id) references district (d_w_id, d_id)`,
-					`alter table "order" add foreign key (o_w_id, o_d_id, o_c_id) references customer (c_w_id, c_d_id, c_id)`,
-					`alter table new_order add foreign key (no_w_id, no_d_id, no_o_id) references "order" (o_w_id, o_d_id, o_id)`,
-					`alter table stock add foreign key (s_w_id) references warehouse (w_id)`,
-					`alter table stock add foreign key (s_i_id) references item (i_id)`,
-					`alter table order_line add foreign key (ol_w_id, ol_d_id, ol_o_id) references "order" (o_w_id, o_d_id, o_id)`,
-					`alter table order_line add foreign key (ol_supply_w_id, ol_i_id) references stock (s_w_id, s_i_id)`,
+					`alter table district add foreign key (d_w_id) references warehouse (w_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table customer add foreign key (c_w_id, c_d_id) references district (d_w_id, d_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table history add foreign key (h_c_w_id, h_c_d_id, h_c_id) references customer (c_w_id, c_d_id, c_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table history add foreign key (h_w_id, h_d_id) references district (d_w_id, d_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table "order" add foreign key (o_w_id, o_d_id, o_c_id) references customer (c_w_id, c_d_id, c_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table new_order add foreign key (no_w_id, no_d_id, no_o_id) references "order" (o_w_id, o_d_id, o_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table stock add foreign key (s_w_id) references warehouse (w_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table stock add foreign key (s_i_id) references item (i_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table order_line add foreign key (ol_w_id, ol_d_id, ol_o_id) references "order" (o_w_id, o_d_id, o_id) not valid`,
+					`alter table order_line add foreign key (ol_supply_w_id, ol_i_id) references stock (s_w_id, s_i_id) not valid`,
 				}
 
 				for _, fkStmt := range fkStmts {