diff --git a/manage.py b/manage.py
index fb5ee40c5..71af23c46 100755
--- a/manage.py
+++ b/manage.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 from typing import List
 
 import django
-import gunicorn.app.wsgiapp
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.core.management import call_command, execute_from_command_line
 
@@ -156,6 +155,9 @@ def run_server(self) -> None:
             call_command("runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000")
             return
 
+        # Import gunicorn only if we aren't in debug mode.
+        import gunicorn.app.wsgiapp
+
         # Patch the arguments for gunicorn
         sys.argv = [
             "gunicorn",