Wall Street spent a lot of time agonizing over whether the Walt Disney would kill the freewheeling culture that made Pixar a hitmaking machine when Disney bought the Emeryville, California studio in 2006.

Two years after the deal was announced, Disney-Pixar President Ed Catmull is pleased to repot that rumors of the studio’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Far from seeing its creativity stifled, Pixar has exported it to its beleaguered sister studio, Walt Disney Animation.

Catmull: The creative team (at Disney) is operating in a way they weren’t allowed to do. They love the way they are working. The spirit of the place is better than it was two years ago. I am really proud.

The secret to Pixar’s independence from its Disney overlords is Disney CEO Bob Iger, who as former Capital Cities/ABC president when Disney bought the company “knows how a larger corporation can smother smaller things,” Catmull said.

“By virtue of the fact that he knew, he put into place a mechanism to protect (Pixar),” Catmull said.

(Photo: Reuters/ Catmull (right) accepting Academy award for scientific and technical achievement in 2001)