15 of the most memorable and lovable Pixar side characters ranked

Heimlich (A Bug’s Life)

Why we all love Heimlich, I’m not sure, but the truth of the matter is that we all love Heimlich. The fat green caterpillar with a German accent who dreams of becoming a butterfly is one of Pixar’s most beloved secondary characters.

Truthfully, he probably reminds us all a little bit of ourselves. After all, he loves food and eating and looks longingly to the future, declaring “Someday I will be a beautiful butterfly and then everything will be better.” Haven’t we all had similar dreams of transformations solving all our problems? The truth of this sentiment is seen in Heimlich’s own life, when he finally receives his butterfly wings which end up being hardly big enough to move his body off the ground without the assistance of some ants.

Despite this, his optimism gives us one of the greatest lines of the movie: “From way up here, you all look like little ants!” (Get it? Because they’re all ants). But character depth aside, Heimlich is just a lovable guy. How this German caterpillar ended up juggling in P.T. Flea’s circus, we don’t know, but we do know about his affinity for candy corn and accidental bravery in distracting the bird. He may be the comic relief in a pretty serious tale of bug enslavement, but he’s a comic relief we love all the same.