diff --git a/docker/startup_scripts/start.sh b/docker/startup_scripts/start.sh
index bd98bdfc0..554845b4e 100755
--- a/docker/startup_scripts/start.sh
+++ b/docker/startup_scripts/start.sh
@@ -275,6 +275,11 @@ main() {
   setup_cache_dir
   fix_logging_and_socket_perms
 
+  # Backfill FileMetadata rows for files uploaded before MetadataFileField was
+  # deployed.  Runs as a background job so pod startup is not delayed.
+  # Once all instances have been fully backfilled this line can be removed.
+  python3 manage.py backfill_file_metadata --batch-size=200 --rate-limit=20 &
+
   cat <<'BANNER'
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