diff --git a/docs/howto/custom-management-commands.txt b/docs/howto/custom-management-commands.txt
index 0b71f1ef8b..9e338a4bdf 100644
--- a/docs/howto/custom-management-commands.txt
+++ b/docs/howto/custom-management-commands.txt
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ the :meth:`~BaseCommand.handle` method must be implemented.
 .. admonition:: Calling a management command in your code
 
     ``execute()`` should not be called directly from your code to execute a
-    command. Use :ref:`call_command <call-command>` instead.
+    command. Use :func:`~django.core.management.call_command` instead.
 
 .. method:: BaseCommand.handle(*args, **options)
 
@@ -374,5 +374,6 @@ message to the appropriate output stream (i.e., stderr); as a result, raising
 this exception (with a sensible description of the error) is the preferred way
 to indicate that something has gone wrong in the execution of a command.
 
-If a management command is called from code through :ref:`call_command
-<call-command>`, it's up to you to catch the exception when needed.
+If a management command is called from code through
+:func:`~django.core.management.call_command`, it's up to you to catch the
+exception when needed.
diff --git a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
index 46615666b8..1ec964b6ae 100644
--- a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
@@ -1755,8 +1755,6 @@ See :doc:`/howto/custom-management-commands` for how to add customized actions.
 Running management commands from your code
 ==========================================
 
-.. _call-command:
-
 .. function:: django.core.management.call_command(name, *args, **options)
 
 To call a management command from code use ``call_command``.
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.5.txt b/docs/releases/1.5.txt
index 41ea907e52..97e248423c 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.5.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.5.txt
@@ -254,8 +254,9 @@ Django 1.5 also includes several smaller improvements worth noting:
 * The generic views support OPTIONS requests.
 
 * Management commands do not raise ``SystemExit`` any more when called by code
-  from :ref:`call_command <call-command>`. Any exception raised by the command
-  (mostly :exc:`~django.core.management.CommandError`) is propagated.
+  from :func:`~django.core.management.call_command`. Any exception raised by
+  the command (mostly :exc:`~django.core.management.CommandError`) is
+  propagated.
 
   Moreover, when you output errors or messages in your custom commands, you
   should now use ``self.stdout.write('message')`` and
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.8.txt b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
index d91b01df46..7f165ad1a9 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.8.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
@@ -429,12 +429,12 @@ Management Commands
   introspect :class:`~django.db.models.AutoField` for MySQL and PostgreSQL
   databases.
 
-* When calling management commands from code through :ref:`call_command
-  <call-command>` and passing options, the option name can match the command
-  line option name (without the initial dashes) or the final option destination
-  variable name, but in either case, the resulting option received by the
-  command is now always the ``dest`` name specified in the command option
-  definition (as long as the command uses the new :py:mod:`argparse` module).
+* When calling management commands with options using
+  :func:`~django.core.management.call_command`, the option name can match the
+  command line option name (without the initial dashes) or the final option
+  destination variable name, but in either case, the resulting option received
+  by the command is now always the ``dest`` name specified in the command
+  option definition (as long as the command uses the :mod:`argparse` module).
 
 * The :djadmin:`dbshell` command now supports MySQL's optional SSL certificate
   authority setting (``--ssl-ca``).
@@ -1121,8 +1121,8 @@ Miscellaneous
   class name found in the :setting:`BACKEND <CACHES-BACKEND>` key of the
   :setting:`CACHES` setting.
 
-* By default, :ref:`call_command <call-command>` now always skips the check
-  framework (unless you pass it ``skip_checks=False``).
+* By default, :func:`~django.core.management.call_command` now always skips the
+  check framework (unless you pass it ``skip_checks=False``).
 
 * When iterating over lines, :class:`~django.core.files.File` now uses
   `universal newlines`_. The following are recognized as ending a line: the