diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog.ts
index a87e329a5d16f9..ed2f4913d917c7 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog.ts
@@ -370,7 +370,8 @@ export function createAPI(
       preid: string | undefined,
       checkAllBranchesWhen: CheckAllBranchesWhen,
       requireSemver: boolean,
-      strictPreid: boolean
+      strictPreid: boolean,
+      projectRoot?: string
     ): Promise<string | null> => {
       if (fromSHACache.has(cacheKey)) {
         return fromSHACache.get(cacheKey);
@@ -386,6 +387,7 @@ export function createAPI(
         requireSemver,
         strictPreid,
         useAutomaticFromRef,
+        projectRoot,
       });
       fromSHACache.set(cacheKey, sha);
       return sha;
@@ -491,7 +493,8 @@ export function createAPI(
               projectsPreid[project.name],
               releaseGroup.releaseTag.checkAllBranchesWhen,
               releaseGroup.releaseTag.requireSemver,
-              releaseGroup.releaseTag.strictPreid
+              releaseGroup.releaseTag.strictPreid,
+              project.data.root
             );
 
             let commits: GitCommit[];
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog/version-plan-filtering.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog/version-plan-filtering.ts
index e64cbeae4b675f..84e408f4e6235e 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog/version-plan-filtering.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/changelog/version-plan-filtering.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { execCommand } from '../utils/exec-command';
 import {
   getCommitHash,
   getFirstGitCommit,
+  getFirstProjectCommit,
   getLatestGitTagForPattern,
 } from '../utils/git';
 import type { VersionData } from '../utils/shared';
@@ -133,6 +134,7 @@ export async function resolveChangelogFromSHA({
   strictPreid,
   useAutomaticFromRef,
   resolveRepositoryTags,
+  projectRoot,
 }: {
   fromRef?: string;
   tagPattern: string;
@@ -143,6 +145,8 @@ export async function resolveChangelogFromSHA({
   strictPreid: boolean;
   useAutomaticFromRef: boolean;
   resolveRepositoryTags: RepoGitTags['resolveTags'];
+  /** When provided, scopes the fallback to the project's first commit instead of the repo's first commit */
+  projectRoot?: string;
 }): Promise<string | null> {
   // If user provided a from ref, resolve it to a SHA
   if (fromRef) {
@@ -163,9 +167,13 @@ export async function resolveChangelogFromSHA({
   if (latestTag?.tag) {
     return await getCommitHash(latestTag.tag);
   }
-  // Finally, if automatic from ref is enabled, use the first commit as a fallback
+  // Finally, if automatic from ref is enabled, use the first commit as a fallback.
+  // When a projectRoot is provided, scope the fallback to the project's first commit
+  // to avoid scanning the entire repo history for projects added after the repo was created.
   if (useAutomaticFromRef) {
-    return await getFirstGitCommit();
+    return projectRoot
+      ? await getFirstProjectCommit(projectRoot)
+      : await getFirstGitCommit();
   }
 
   return null;
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/utils/git.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/utils/git.ts
index f7982b0ea3c224..a0972ed9c15f84 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/utils/git.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/utils/git.ts
@@ -732,6 +732,44 @@ export async function getFirstGitCommit() {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Returns the parent of the first commit that touched the given project root,
+ * so that `from..HEAD` ranges include the project's creation commit.
+ * Falls back to getFirstGitCommit() if the project history cannot be determined.
+ */
+export async function getFirstProjectCommit(
+  projectRoot: string
+): Promise<string> {
+  try {
+    const result = (
+      await execCommand('git', [
+        'rev-list',
+        '--reverse',
+        'HEAD',
+        '--first-parent',
+        '--',
+        `${projectRoot}/package.json`,
+      ])
+    ).trim();
+    const firstCommit = result.split('\n')[0];
+
+    if (firstCommit) {
+      // Return the parent so the creation commit is included in from..to ranges
+      try {
+        return (
+          await execCommand('git', ['rev-parse', `${firstCommit}~1`])
+        ).trim();
+      } catch {
+        // No parent (project was added in the repo's very first commit)
+        return firstCommit;
+      }
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // fall through to fallback
+  }
+  return getFirstGitCommit();
+}
+
 async function getGitRoot() {
   try {
     return (await execCommand('git', ['rev-parse', '--show-toplevel'])).trim();
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/version/derive-specifier-from-conventional-commits.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/version/derive-specifier-from-conventional-commits.ts
index ccb619062dc630..e5e0eac26380ef 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/version/derive-specifier-from-conventional-commits.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/version/derive-specifier-from-conventional-commits.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,11 @@ import type {
 } from '../../../config/project-graph';
 import { NxReleaseConfig } from '../config/config';
 import { ReleaseGroupWithName } from '../config/filter-release-groups';
-import { getFirstGitCommit, getLatestGitTagForPattern } from '../utils/git';
+import {
+  getFirstGitCommit,
+  getFirstProjectCommit,
+  getLatestGitTagForPattern,
+} from '../utils/git';
 import { ReleaseGraph } from '../utils/release-graph';
 import { resolveSemverSpecifierFromConventionalCommits } from '../utils/resolve-semver-specifier';
 import { SemverSpecifier, SemverSpecifierType } from '../utils/semver';
@@ -36,11 +40,12 @@ export async function deriveSpecifierFromConventionalCommits(
       : releaseGroup.projects;
 
   // latestMatchingGitTag will be undefined if the current version was resolved from the disk fallback.
-  // In this case, we want to use the first commit as the ref to be consistent with the changelog command.
+  // In this case, use the first commit that touched this project rather than the repo's first commit,
+  // to avoid scanning the entire git history for projects that were added after the repo was created.
   const previousVersionRef = latestMatchingGitTag
     ? latestMatchingGitTag.tag
     : fallbackCurrentVersionResolver === 'disk'
-      ? await getFirstGitCommit()
+      ? await getFirstProjectCommit(projectGraphNode.data.root)
       : undefined;
 
   if (!previousVersionRef) {