diff --git a/rest_framework/authtoken/models.py b/rest_framework/authtoken/models.py
index 5c83c7cd1..8df84105d 100644
--- a/rest_framework/authtoken/models.py
+++ b/rest_framework/authtoken/models.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import binascii
 import os
 
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.db import models
 from django.utils.encoding import python_2_unicode_compatible
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
@@ -15,7 +14,7 @@ class Token(models.Model):
     """
     key = models.CharField(_("Key"), max_length=40, primary_key=True)
     user = models.OneToOneField(
-        User, related_name='auth_token',
+        settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, related_name='auth_token',
         on_delete=models.CASCADE, verbose_name=_("User")
     )
     created = models.DateTimeField(_("Created"), auto_now_add=True)