diff --git a/buildman/jobutil/buildjob.py b/buildman/jobutil/buildjob.py
index 3c00a3bc3..91c98f6b0 100644
--- a/buildman/jobutil/buildjob.py
+++ b/buildman/jobutil/buildjob.py
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@ class BuildJob(object):
       return None
 
     # Build an in-memory tree of the full heirarchy of images in the repository.
-    all_images = model.get_repository_images(repo_namespace, repo_name)
+    all_images = model.get_repository_images_directly(repo_build.repository,
+                                                      with_ancestor=base_image)
+
     all_tags = model.list_repository_tags(repo_namespace, repo_name)
     tree = ImageTree(all_images, all_tags, base_filter=base_image.id)
 
diff --git a/data/model/legacy.py b/data/model/legacy.py
index 813fe0e67..38dea3ecc 100644
--- a/data/model/legacy.py
+++ b/data/model/legacy.py
@@ -1751,6 +1751,21 @@ def get_matching_repository_images(namespace_name, repository_name, docker_image
 
   return _get_repository_images_base(namespace_name, repository_name, modify_query)
 
+
+def get_repository_images_directly(repository, with_ancestor=None):
+  query = (Image
+           .select(Image, ImageStorage)
+           .join(ImageStorage)
+           .where(Image.repository == repository))
+
+  if with_ancestor:
+    ancestors_string = '%s%s/' % (with_ancestor.ancestors, with_ancestor.id)
+    query = query.where((Image.ancestors ** (ancestors_string + '%')) |
+                        (Image.id == with_ancestor.id))
+
+  return query
+
+
 def get_repository_images(namespace_name, repository_name):
   return _get_repository_images_base(namespace_name, repository_name, lambda q: q)
 
diff --git a/test/test_imagetree.py b/test/test_imagetree.py
index e257792c4..f1622e868 100644
--- a/test/test_imagetree.py
+++ b/test/test_imagetree.py
@@ -91,6 +91,27 @@ class TestImageTree(unittest.TestCase):
     self.assertEquals('staging', tree.tag_containing_image(result[0]))
 
 
+  def test_longest_path_simple_repo_direct_lookup(self):
+    repository = model.get_repository(NAMESPACE, SIMPLE_REPO)
+    all_images = list(model.get_repository_images(NAMESPACE, SIMPLE_REPO))
+    all_tags = list(model.list_repository_tags(NAMESPACE, SIMPLE_REPO))
+
+    base_image = self._get_base_image(all_images)
+    tag_image = all_tags[0].image
+
+    def checker(index, image):
+      return True
+
+    filtered_images = model.get_repository_images_directly(repository, with_ancestor=base_image)
+    self.assertEquals(set([f.id for f in filtered_images]), set([a.id for a in all_images]))
+
+    tree = ImageTree(filtered_images, all_tags)
+
+    ancestors = tag_image.ancestors.split('/')[2:-1] # Skip the first image.
+    result = tree.find_longest_path(base_image.id, checker)
+    self.assertEquals(3, len(result))
+    self.assertEquals('latest', tree.tag_containing_image(result[-1]))
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   unittest.main()