Reference points based on maximum sustainable yield (MSY) are starting to be used for fisheries stock management in Japan. Although MSY is often estimated using stock-recruitment relationships, conventional textbooks explain MSY using production models, and it seems that the connection between stock-recruitment relationship and MSY is not well known. In this paper, the method of deriving MSY, fishing mortality at MSY (F_msy), and spawning biomass at MSY (SB_msy) from hockey-stick (HS), Beverton and Holt (BH), and Ricker (RI) stock-recruitment models is shown when the spawning stock consists of a single-year class and multiple-year classes in a deterministic situation. In addition, we introduce a random fluctuation in recruitment and examine the connection between stock-recruitment relationships and MSY reference points in each case, such as the HS, BH, and RI models, single and multiple-year classes, and deterministic and stochastic situations, using examples of TAC species.