diff --git a/examples/jsm/loaders/GLTFLoader.js b/examples/jsm/loaders/GLTFLoader.js
index b10a7425804b00..d784d811117241 100644
--- a/examples/jsm/loaders/GLTFLoader.js
+++ b/examples/jsm/loaders/GLTFLoader.js
@@ -3776,6 +3776,7 @@ class GLTFParser {
 		const json = this.json;
 
 		const animationDef = json.animations[ animationIndex ];
+		const animationName = animationDef.name ? animationDef.name : 'animation_' + animationIndex;
 
 		const pendingNodes = [];
 		const pendingInputAccessors = [];
@@ -3792,6 +3793,8 @@ class GLTFParser {
 			const input = animationDef.parameters !== undefined ? animationDef.parameters[ sampler.input ] : sampler.input;
 			const output = animationDef.parameters !== undefined ? animationDef.parameters[ sampler.output ] : sampler.output;
 
+			if ( target.node === undefined ) continue;
+
 			pendingNodes.push( this.getDependency( 'node', name ) );
 			pendingInputAccessors.push( this.getDependency( 'accessor', input ) );
 			pendingOutputAccessors.push( this.getDependency( 'accessor', output ) );
@@ -3929,9 +3932,7 @@ class GLTFParser {
 
 			}
 
-			const name = animationDef.name ? animationDef.name : 'animation_' + animationIndex;
-
-			return new AnimationClip( name, undefined, tracks );
+			return new AnimationClip( animationName, undefined, tracks );
 
 		} );