hi sean,
yep, a particle system is designed to do what you are looking for. however, they do have a bit of a learning curve, and your system will involve creating a custom ‘particle’ too.
you might check out this tutorial:
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/birnholz_rob/red_giant_3d_montage.php
note: for similar tutorials click tutorials, then choose ‘particle tutorials’ from the categories on the right side.
it uses a plugin called particular to create an effect that sounds a bit like what you are looking for, but with photos rather than text. you would obviously use text layers rather than images to create your custom particles.
if you don’t have particular, this can be adapted to cc particle world that comes with ae… to get started, to use a custom particle with that effect, choose particle type: textured square (or textured anything) and then choose the texture layer.
if you decide to go the particle system route, i’m sure you’ll have more questions. just post them.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW