Methods and apparatus to perform adaptive pre-fetch operations in managed runtime environments are disclosed herein. An example disclosed method includes determining an object size associated with a pre-fetch operation; comparing the object size to a first one of a series of thresholds having increasing respective values; when the object size is less than the first one of the series of thresholds, pre-fetching a first amount of stored data assigned to the first one of the series of thresholds; and when the object size is greater than the first one of the plurality of thresholds, comparing the object size to a next one of the series of thresholds.