diff --git a/ci/build_docs.sh b/ci/build_docs.sh
index a906b78de5389..c0843593f85ff 100755
--- a/ci/build_docs.sh
+++ b/ci/build_docs.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ if [ x"$DOC_BUILD" != x"" ]; then
 
     source activate pandas
     conda install -n pandas -c r r rpy2 --yes
-    pip install sphinx -U
 
     time sudo apt-get $APT_ARGS install dvipng
 
diff --git a/ci/requirements-2.7_DOC_BUILD.run b/ci/requirements-2.7_DOC_BUILD.run
index 33033defc8faa..854776762fdb5 100644
--- a/ci/requirements-2.7_DOC_BUILD.run
+++ b/ci/requirements-2.7_DOC_BUILD.run
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ipython
+sphinx
 nbconvert
 matplotlib
 scipy