diff --git a/tests/unit/pandas/io/test_api.py b/tests/unit/pandas/io/test_api.py
index 24ef51ad47..1e69fa9df3 100644
--- a/tests/unit/pandas/io/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/unit/pandas/io/test_api.py
@@ -14,10 +14,15 @@
 
 from unittest import mock
 
+import pytest
+
 import bigframes.dataframe
 import bigframes.pandas.io.api as bf_io_api
 import bigframes.session
 
+# _read_gbq_colab requires the polars engine.
+pytest.importorskip("polars")
+
 
 @mock.patch(
     "bigframes.pandas.io.api._set_default_session_location_if_possible_deferred_query"