diff --git a/docs/api-guide/authentication.md b/docs/api-guide/authentication.md
index 0704118bd..cc6190a5d 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/authentication.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/authentication.md
@@ -205,7 +205,17 @@ The `obtain_auth_token` view will return a JSON response when valid `username` a
 
     { 'token' : '9944b09199c62bcf9418ad846dd0e4bbdfc6ee4b' }
 
-Note that the default `obtain_auth_token` view explicitly uses JSON requests and responses, rather than using default renderer and parser classes in your settings.  If you need a customized version of the `obtain_auth_token` view, you can do so by overriding the `ObtainAuthToken` view class, and using that in your url conf instead.
+Note that the default `obtain_auth_token` view explicitly uses JSON requests and responses, rather than using default renderer and parser classes in your settings.  If you need a customized version of the `obtain_auth_token` view, you can do so by inheriting from `ObtainAuthToken` and overriding the `get_data` function, and using that in your url conf instead.
+
+Example:
+
+```
+class CustomAuthToken(ObtainAuthToken):
+
+    def get_data(self, user, token, created):
+        return {'token': token.key, 'user_id': user.pk}
+
+```
 
 By default there are no permissions or throttling applied to the  `obtain_auth_token` view. If you do wish to apply throttling you'll need to override the view class,
 and include them using the `throttle_classes` attribute.
diff --git a/rest_framework/authtoken/views.py b/rest_framework/authtoken/views.py
index 6254d2f7f..d5f93423d 100644
--- a/rest_framework/authtoken/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/authtoken/views.py
@@ -12,13 +12,17 @@ class ObtainAuthToken(APIView):
     renderer_classes = (renderers.JSONRenderer,)
     serializer_class = AuthTokenSerializer
 
+    def get_data(self, user, token, created):
+        return {'token': token.key}
+
     def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
         serializer = self.serializer_class(data=request.data,
                                            context={'request': request})
         serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True)
         user = serializer.validated_data['user']
         token, created = Token.objects.get_or_create(user=user)
-        return Response({'token': token.key})
+        data = self.get_data(user, token, created)
+        return Response(data)
 
 
 obtain_auth_token = ObtainAuthToken.as_view()