diff --git a/impeller/playground/playground.cc b/impeller/playground/playground.cc
index 1f1c5930ff864..3df9001bc753d 100644
--- a/impeller/playground/playground.cc
+++ b/impeller/playground/playground.cc
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@
 #include "third_party/imgui/backends/imgui_impl_glfw.h"
 #include "third_party/imgui/imgui.h"
 
+#if FML_OS_MACOSX
+#include <objc/message.h>
+#include <objc/runtime.h>
+#endif
+
 namespace impeller {
 
 std::string PlaygroundBackendToString(PlaygroundBackend backend) {
@@ -178,6 +183,23 @@ void Playground::SetCursorPosition(Point pos) {
   cursor_position_ = pos;
 }
 
+#if FML_OS_MACOSX
+class AutoReleasePool {
+ public:
+  AutoReleasePool() {
+    pool_ = reinterpret_cast<msg_send>(objc_msgSend)(
+        objc_getClass("NSAutoreleasePool"), sel_getUid("new"));
+  }
+  ~AutoReleasePool() {
+    reinterpret_cast<msg_send>(objc_msgSend)(pool_, sel_getUid("drain"));
+  }
+
+ private:
+  typedef id (*msg_send)(void*, SEL);
+  id pool_;
+};
+#endif
+
 bool Playground::OpenPlaygroundHere(
     const Renderer::RenderCallback& render_callback) {
   if (!is_enabled()) {
@@ -239,6 +261,9 @@ bool Playground::OpenPlaygroundHere(
   ::glfwShowWindow(window);
 
   while (true) {
+#if FML_OS_MACOSX
+    AutoReleasePool pool;
+#endif
     ::glfwPollEvents();
 
     if (::glfwWindowShouldClose(window)) {