diff --git a/src/AnimGraph/AnimGraphResource.cc b/src/AnimGraph/AnimGraphResource.cc
index f8f3089..64afb19 100644
--- a/src/AnimGraph/AnimGraphResource.cc
+++ b/src/AnimGraph/AnimGraphResource.cc
@@ -488,7 +488,10 @@ void AnimGraphResource::connectRuntimeNodes(AnimGraph& instance) const {
     //
     // Wire up outputs to inputs.
     //
-    if (target_socket->m_type != SocketType::SocketTypeAnimation) {
+    // Skip animation connections and connections to the output node as the
+    // pointers are already set up in AnimGraphResource::prepareGraphIOData().
+    if (target_socket->m_type != SocketType::SocketTypeAnimation
+        && connection.target_node_index != 0) {
       (*target_socket->m_reference.ptr_ptr) = source_socket->m_reference.ptr;
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/AnimGraphEvalTests.cc b/tests/AnimGraphEvalTests.cc
index 4c253bc..6ac2968 100644
--- a/tests/AnimGraphEvalTests.cc
+++ b/tests/AnimGraphEvalTests.cc
@@ -121,8 +121,6 @@ TEST_CASE_METHOD(
 }
 
 TEST_CASE("AnimDataPlacementNew", "[AnimGraphEval]") {
-  std::cout << "blamp" << std::endl;
-
   int anim_data_size = sizeof(AnimData);
   char* buf = new char[anim_data_size];