diff --git a/backends/apple/coreml/TARGETS b/backends/apple/coreml/TARGETS
index 444e886b4e6..2f3494b6004 100644
--- a/backends/apple/coreml/TARGETS
+++ b/backends/apple/coreml/TARGETS
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ runtime.python_library(
         "//executorch/exir/backend:partitioner",
         "//executorch/exir/backend:utils",
         "//executorch/export:lib",
+        "//executorch/runtime:runtime",  # @manual
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/backends/qualcomm/recipes/TARGETS b/backends/qualcomm/recipes/TARGETS
index 12d1bac6f12..6a7abfd61c6 100644
--- a/backends/qualcomm/recipes/TARGETS
+++ b/backends/qualcomm/recipes/TARGETS
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ runtime.python_library(
     deps = [
         "//caffe2:torch",
         "//executorch/export:lib",
+        "//executorch/runtime:runtime",  # @manual
         "//executorch/backends/qualcomm/partition:partition",
         "//executorch/backends/qualcomm/serialization:serialization",
         "//executorch/backends/qualcomm/utils:utils",
diff --git a/backends/xnnpack/recipes/TARGETS b/backends/xnnpack/recipes/TARGETS
index 6b6c1ddfe82..5d452b4a4b7 100644
--- a/backends/xnnpack/recipes/TARGETS
+++ b/backends/xnnpack/recipes/TARGETS
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ runtime.python_library(
     deps = [
         "//caffe2:torch",
         "//executorch/export:lib",
+        "//executorch/runtime:runtime",  # @manual
         "//executorch/backends/xnnpack/quantizer:xnnpack_quantizer",
         "//executorch/backends/xnnpack/partition:xnnpack_partitioner",
         ":xnnpack_recipe_types",
diff --git a/backends/xnnpack/test/TARGETS b/backends/xnnpack/test/TARGETS
index d20a6003f3f..1729a893ff4 100644
--- a/backends/xnnpack/test/TARGETS
+++ b/backends/xnnpack/test/TARGETS
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ runtime.python_test(
     deps = [
        "//executorch/backends/xnnpack/recipes:xnnpack_recipes",
         "//executorch/export:lib",
+        "//executorch/runtime:runtime",  # @manual
         "//pytorch/vision:torchvision",  # @manual
         "//executorch/backends/xnnpack/test/tester:tester",
         "//executorch/examples/models:models",  # @manual
diff --git a/devtools/etrecord/tests/TARGETS b/devtools/etrecord/tests/TARGETS
index f25f0464c9e..59f73bdb406 100644
--- a/devtools/etrecord/tests/TARGETS
+++ b/devtools/etrecord/tests/TARGETS
@@ -23,5 +23,6 @@ runtime.python_library(
         "//executorch/exir/tests:models",
         "//executorch/backends/xnnpack/partition:xnnpack_partitioner",
         "//executorch/export:lib",
+        "//executorch/runtime:runtime",  # @manual
     ],
 )
diff --git a/export/TARGETS b/export/TARGETS
index 50afa6db6ed..9f6cb37950c 100644
--- a/export/TARGETS
+++ b/export/TARGETS
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ runtime.python_library(
         ":recipe",
         ":stages",
         ":types",
-        "//executorch/runtime:runtime",
         ":recipe_registry"
     ]
 )
diff --git a/export/export.py b/export/export.py
index dc7916ad21f..03ac2c3194d 100644
--- a/export/export.py
+++ b/export/export.py
@@ -631,8 +631,15 @@ def run_method(
         Raises:
             RuntimeError: If the method cannot be loaded
         """
-        # Lazy import to avoid forcing portable_lib dependency at module load time
-        from executorch.runtime import Runtime, Verification
+        # Lazy import to avoid forcing portable_lib dependency at module load time.
+        try:
+            from executorch.runtime import Runtime, Verification
+        except ModuleNotFoundError as e:
+            raise ModuleNotFoundError(
+                "executorch.runtime is not available. "
+                "In OSS: Please ensure executorch is properly installed via pip. "
+                "In fbcode: Please add //executorch/runtime:runtime to your dependencies."
+            ) from e
 
         et_runtime = Runtime.get()
         program = et_runtime.load_program(