Что касается комментария @ grep, нельзя ли это сделать:
# Put this on your base model (or monkey patch it onto django's Model if that's your thing)
def reload(self):
new_self = self.__class__.objects.get(pk=self.pk)
# You may want to clear out the old dict first or perform a selective merge
self.__dict__.update(new_self.__dict__)
# Use it like this
bar.foo = foo
assert bar.foo.pk is None
foo.save()
foo.reload()
assert bar.foo is foo and bar.foo.pk is not None