diff --git a/doc/api/animation_api.rst b/doc/api/animation_api.rst
index 13b0acf026c2..c0f8e724b798 100644
--- a/doc/api/animation_api.rst
+++ b/doc/api/animation_api.rst
@@ -147,17 +147,17 @@ function. ::
    def init():
        ax.set_xlim(0, 2*np.pi)
        ax.set_ylim(-1, 1)
-       return ln,
+       return line1,
 
    def update(frame, ln, x, y):
        x.append(frame)
        y.append(np.sin(frame))
-       ln.set_data(xdata, ydata)
+       ln.set_data(x, y)
        return ln,
 
    xdata, ydata = [], []
    ani = FuncAnimation(
-       fig, partial(update, ln=line1, x=xdata, y=ydata),
+       fig, partial(update, ln=line1, x=[], y=[]),
        frames=np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 128),
        init_func=init, blit=True)