diff --git a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
index b12016c7d59..3b918a83942 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
@@ -1408,6 +1408,24 @@ cdef _sanitize_arrays(arrays, names, schema, metadata,
     return converted_arrays
 
 
+cdef _truncate_array_string(arr_str, length):
+    delim_stack = []
+    partial_end = 0
+
+    for pos, char in enumerate(arr_str):
+        if char == "[":
+            delim_stack.append("]")
+            continue
+        elif char == "]":
+            assert delim_stack[-1] == "]"
+            delim_stack.pop()
+        elif char != ",":
+            continue
+
+        if pos >= length:
+            return arr_str[:(pos + 1)] + "...]" * len(delim_stack)
+
+
 cdef class RecordBatch(_PandasConvertible):
     """
     Batch of rows of columns of equal length
@@ -2726,7 +2744,7 @@ cdef class Table(_PandasConvertible):
         raise TypeError("Do not call Table's constructor directly, use one of "
                         "the `Table.from_*` functions instead.")
 
-    def to_string(self, *, show_metadata=False, preview_cols=0):
+    def to_string(self, *, show_metadata=False, preview_cols=0, cols_char_limit=120):
         """
         Return human-readable string representation of Table.
 
@@ -2736,6 +2754,8 @@ cdef class Table(_PandasConvertible):
             Display Field-level and Schema-level KeyValueMetadata.
         preview_cols : int, default 0
             Display values of the columns for the first N columns.
+        cols_char_limit : int, default 120
+            Max number of characters to show in each column preview
 
         Returns
         -------
@@ -2751,10 +2771,12 @@ cdef class Table(_PandasConvertible):
         if preview_cols:
             pieces.append('----')
             for i in range(min(self.num_columns, preview_cols)):
-                pieces.append('{}: {}'.format(
-                    self.field(i).name,
-                    self.column(i).to_string(indent=0, skip_new_lines=True)
-                ))
+                col_string = self.column(i).to_string(
+                    indent=0, skip_new_lines=True)
+                if len(col_string) > cols_char_limit:
+                    col_string = _truncate_array_string(
+                        col_string, cols_char_limit)
+                pieces.append('{}: {}'.format(self.field(i).name, col_string))
             if preview_cols < self.num_columns:
                 pieces.append('...')
         return '\n'.join(pieces)
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py
index bdbd2a7c8fc..e977902ae68 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py
@@ -1805,6 +1805,24 @@ def test_table_repr_to_string_ellipsis():
 c1: [[10,20,30,40,10,...,40,10,20,30,40]]"""
 
 
+def test_table_repr_cols_char_limit():
+    # Schema passed explicitly
+    schema = pa.schema([pa.field('c0', pa.int16(),
+                                 metadata={'key': 'value'}),
+                        pa.field('c1', pa.int32())],
+                       metadata={b'foo': b'bar'})
+
+    tab = pa.table([pa.array([1, 2, 3, 4]*10, type='int16'),
+                    pa.array([10, 20, 30, 40]*10, type='int32')],
+                   schema=schema)
+    assert tab.to_string(preview_cols=10, cols_char_limit=50) == """pyarrow.Table
+c0: int16
+c1: int32
+----
+c0: [[1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,...,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4]]
+c1: [[10,20,30,40,10,20,30,40,10,20,...,30,40,10,20,30,...]...]"""
+
+
 def test_table_function_unicode_schema():
     col_a = "äääh"
     col_b = "öööf"