diff --git a/.github/workflows/bashlib.sh b/.github/workflows/bashlib.sh
index 1289d07259e..362f39a474a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/bashlib.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/bashlib.sh
@@ -117,6 +117,19 @@ testdata() {
   say "::endgroup::"
 }
 
+playwright_testdata() {
+  cd "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
+  say "::group::Load all examples for Playwright tests"
+  # must specify PYTHONPATH to make `tests.superset_test_config` importable
+  export PYTHONPATH="$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
+  pip install -e .
+  superset db upgrade
+  superset load_test_users
+  superset load_examples
+  superset init
+  say "::endgroup::"
+}
+
 celery-worker() {
   cd "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
   say "::group::Start Celery worker"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/superset-e2e.yml b/.github/workflows/superset-e2e.yml
index 1e074980498..6a0017a5e18 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/superset-e2e.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/superset-e2e.yml
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ jobs:
         if: steps.check.outputs.python || steps.check.outputs.frontend
         uses: ./.github/actions/cached-dependencies
         with:
-          run: testdata
+          run: playwright_testdata
       - name: Setup Node.js
         if: steps.check.outputs.python || steps.check.outputs.frontend
         uses: actions/setup-node@v5