diff --git a/tests/test_notebooks.py b/tests/test_notebooks.py
index 9d3d5b1f..b5817d7d 100644
--- a/tests/test_notebooks.py
+++ b/tests/test_notebooks.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 import tempfile
 from test_helpers import timer
 
-import nbformat
-
 notebook_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(
     os.path.split(os.path.abspath(__file__))[0],
     '..',
@@ -18,6 +16,7 @@ def _notebook_run(path):
     """Execute a notebook via nbconvert and collect output.
        :returns (parsed nb object, execution errors)
     """
+    import nbformat
     dirname, __ = os.path.split(path)
     os.chdir(dirname)
     with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=".ipynb") as fout: