diff --git a/code/core/package.json b/code/core/package.json
index db2394d2401b..ec068e77596d 100644
--- a/code/core/package.json
+++ b/code/core/package.json
@@ -279,6 +279,7 @@
     "browser-assert": "^1.2.1",
     "esbuild": "^0.18.0 || ^0.19.0 || ^0.20.0 || ^0.21.0 || ^0.22.0 || ^0.23.0 || ^0.24.0",
     "esbuild-register": "^3.5.0",
+    "jiti": "^2.4.2",
     "jsdoc-type-pratt-parser": "^4.0.0",
     "process": "^0.11.10",
     "recast": "^0.23.5",
@@ -364,7 +365,6 @@
     "get-npm-tarball-url": "^2.0.3",
     "glob": "^10.0.0",
     "globby": "^14.0.1",
-    "jiti": "^1.21.6",
     "js-yaml": "^4.1.0",
     "lazy-universal-dotenv": "^4.0.0",
     "leven": "^4.0.0",
diff --git a/code/core/src/common/presets.ts b/code/core/src/common/presets.ts
index b85b35d62b77..508bd9a8fd85 100644
--- a/code/core/src/common/presets.ts
+++ b/code/core/src/common/presets.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-import { join, parse } from 'node:path';
+import { isAbsolute, join, parse, resolve } from 'pathe'
+
+import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url'
+import { createJiti } from 'jiti'
 
 import type {
   BuilderOptions,
@@ -17,7 +20,6 @@ import { CriticalPresetLoadError } from '@storybook/core/server-errors';
 
 import { dedent } from 'ts-dedent';
 
-import { interopRequireDefault } from './utils/interpret-require';
 import { loadCustomPresets } from './utils/load-custom-presets';
 import { safeResolve, safeResolveFrom } from './utils/safeResolve';
 import { stripAbsNodeModulesPath } from './utils/strip-abs-node-modules-path';
@@ -214,14 +216,14 @@ const map =
     };
   };
 
-async function getContent(input: any) {
+async function getContent(input: PresetConfig) {
   if (input.type === 'virtual') {
     const { type, name, ...rest } = input;
     return rest;
   }
-  const name = input.name ? input.name : input;
-
-  return interopRequireDefault(name);
+  const src = input.name ? input.name : input;
+  const jiti = createJiti(import.meta.url || pathToFileURL(__filename).href);
+  return await jiti.import(src);
 }
 
 export async function loadPreset(
diff --git a/code/core/src/common/utils/validate-config.ts b/code/core/src/common/utils/validate-config.ts
index 221ea9235522..ea70d1f844fa 100644
--- a/code/core/src/common/utils/validate-config.ts
+++ b/code/core/src/common/utils/validate-config.ts
@@ -30,11 +30,4 @@ export function validateFrameworkName(
   if (Object.keys(frameworkPackages).includes(frameworkName)) {
     return;
   }
-
-  // If it's not a known framework, we need to validate that it's a valid package at least
-  try {
-    require.resolve(join(frameworkName, 'preset'));
-  } catch (err) {
-    throw new CouldNotEvaluateFrameworkError({ frameworkName });
-  }
 }
diff --git a/code/yarn.lock b/code/yarn.lock
index a36028c2bb19..d12b502295cd 100644
--- a/code/yarn.lock
+++ b/code/yarn.lock
@@ -6064,7 +6064,7 @@ __metadata:
     get-npm-tarball-url: "npm:^2.0.3"
     glob: "npm:^10.0.0"
     globby: "npm:^14.0.1"
-    jiti: "npm:^1.21.6"
+    jiti: "npm:^2.4.2"
     js-yaml: "npm:^4.1.0"
     jsdoc-type-pratt-parser: "npm:^4.0.0"
     lazy-universal-dotenv: "npm:^4.0.0"
@@ -18546,7 +18546,7 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
-"jiti@npm:^1.20.0, jiti@npm:^1.21.6":
+"jiti@npm:^1.20.0":
   version: 1.21.6
   resolution: "jiti@npm:1.21.6"
   bin:
@@ -18555,6 +18555,15 @@ __metadata:
   languageName: node
   linkType: hard
 
+"jiti@npm:^2.4.2":
+  version: 2.4.2
+  resolution: "jiti@npm:2.4.2"
+  bin:
+    jiti: lib/jiti-cli.mjs
+  checksum: 10c0/4ceac133a08c8faff7eac84aabb917e85e8257f5ad659e843004ce76e981c457c390a220881748ac67ba1b940b9b729b30fb85cbaf6e7989f04b6002c94da331
+  languageName: node
+  linkType: hard
+
 "jju@npm:^1.4.0":
   version: 1.4.0
   resolution: "jju@npm:1.4.0"