diff --git a/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/EMotionFX/Tools/EMotionStudio/Plugins/StandardPlugins/Source/AnimGraph/AnimGraphPlugin.cpp b/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/EMotionFX/Tools/EMotionStudio/Plugins/StandardPlugins/Source/AnimGraph/AnimGraphPlugin.cpp
index 62c0fe0a14..1a713f52fe 100644
--- a/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/EMotionFX/Tools/EMotionStudio/Plugins/StandardPlugins/Source/AnimGraph/AnimGraphPlugin.cpp
+++ b/Gems/EMotionFX/Code/EMotionFX/Tools/EMotionStudio/Plugins/StandardPlugins/Source/AnimGraph/AnimGraphPlugin.cpp
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ namespace EMStudio
                 return DirtyFileManager::FINISHED;
             }
 
-            for (const SaveDirtyFilesCallback::ObjectPointer objPointer : objects)
+            for (const SaveDirtyFilesCallback::ObjectPointer& objPointer : objects)
             {
                 // get the current object pointer and skip directly if the type check fails
                 if (objPointer.mAnimGraph == nullptr)